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^UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.^ 

S2i!lS 9—167 SiPS 



THE ODES OF PINDAR 



THE 



ODES OF PINDAR. 



TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH PROSE, 



BRIEF EXPLANATORY NOTES AND A PREFACE. 



/ 



F. A. PA LET, M.A., 

EDITOR AND TRANSLATOR OF " AESCHYLUS," ETC., ETC. 




WILLIAMS AND NOEGATE, 

14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON; 

AND 

20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH. 

CAMBEIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL, AND CO. 

1868. 



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STEPHEN AUSTIN, PRINTER, HERTFORD. 



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PBEFACE. 



The translations of Pindar's Epinicia now pub- 
lished have been made at different times, and for the 
most part have been long lying by, through want of 
leisure on my part to revise them finally for the 
press. In the course of reading Pindar for many 
years past with pupils, I have often been compelled 
to complain of the unsatisfactory renderings which 
are given in commentaries ; and so, with at least a 
strong desire to do better, I have been in the habit 
of attempting occasionally the careful and close 
translation of an entire ode. By such experiments 
from time to time repeated the work has grown up, 
as it were, from small beginnings. I think an 
accurate translation of an author so very difficult as 
Pindar will be of use to students; and I do not 
know that, under the circumstances mentioned above, 
it is necessary to add a word on the question how far 
translations are or are not serviceable to the cause of 
sound scholarship. Pindar may be called in some 



VI PREFACE. 

respects an exceptional poet. Partly from the diffi- 
culty and somewhat archaic character of the Greek, 
partly from his highly figurative and " flowery" 
style, but chiefly from the nature of his subject, 
which is not human nature but human glory, he is 
not very extensively read in this country, nor per- 
haps by any but by students of the higher class ; and 
with them he is not commonly a great favourite. The 
fact is, that Pindar, to use a hackneyed phrase, must 
be known to be appreciated. And to know him well 
must be the work and the study of years. And yet, 
as the earliest genuine Greek poet of antiquity — 
which, with the grave doubts that hang over the 
composition of the Homeric and the greater part at 
least of the Hesiodic poems, 1 I think he may fairly 
be called — he well deserves to hold a foremost place 
in our curriculum of classical studies. 

Any one who attempts to render Pindar, with 
tolerable closeness, into readable English, will 
soon find that he has undertaken an extremely 
difficult, not to say a formidable task. It would be 
hard to conceive any two forms of literature more 
widely different than the chivalrous, sententious, 
highly florid style of the Greek lyric poet, and 



1 There is, at all events, less reason to suspect the "cooking" 
process in the Odes of Pindar than in any other poet of antiquity. 
But there is great probability, I fear, that in the form in which we 
have them, the works attributed to Homer and Hesiod are but com- 
pilations and adaptations of earlier compositions. 



PREFACE. Vll 

the average prose- writings of our own times and 
country. If we try to translate a dozen lines of 
Pindar very literally, and word for word, we shall 
too often obtain a result that reads very like down- 
right nonsense. If we aim at a style and diction 
somewhat antiquated, and borrow the vocabulary of 
Spenser or the old English ballads, we fall into a 
forced artificial mannerism which, simply because it 
is unreal, savours strongly of quaintness, pedantry, 
and affectation. If we endeavour to represent the 
author's mind and meaning in the plain and clear 
terms which are the vehicle of modern thought, we 
run the serious risk of violating the very genius and 
essence of lyric poetry, and bringing it down almost 
to the level of ordinary dinner-table talk. Though 
well aware of the stupendous descent that must in 
this case be made, I have nevertheless preferred to 
make the attempt, and have endeavoured to repre- 
sent Pindar's mind and meaning, and the connexion 
of thought, in plain unvarnished Saxon English. 
In doing this, I have tried to give a tolerably literal, 
but not servile version, i.e., a version only so far free 
as to allow of Greek being exchanged for English 
idioms. For a translation which reproduces all the 
idioms of the original is but a travestie; it has 
no right to be called a translation (or transference) 
at all. 1 

1 If the necessities of the case have caused me apparently to pass 



V1U PREFACE. 

I have ventured to call Pindar tlie most genuine 
of tlie early Greek poets ; and in the sense, that his 
extant works have come down to us on the whole 
less tampered with and less modernised than any 
others, I think this is true. In reading Pindar, we 
feel a well-founded confidence that we have before 
us the very words of one who lived at a known time 
and place. In Pindar too we have a poet mi generis. 
Standing widely apart from, — we can hardly say 
between, — the epic on one side and the dramatic on 
the other, — the lyric poetry of Pindar has the 
impress of a peculiar and quite unique genius. 
Chivalrous, if somewhat wanting in pathos, sen- 
tentious rather than philosophical, jealous of his own 
fame though genial to others, patriotic without being 
illiberal, and combining real piety and trust in a 
divine superintendence with an unquestioning credu- 
lity in the wildest legends, 1 he is totally absorbed in 

over some of those nicer shades of meaning which the Greek language 
can so well express, I must beg the student not too hastily to conclude 
that I was therefore ignorant of them. Sometimes they cannot be 
rendered without clumsy verbiage. 

1 " Strange it may seem to us, that with all these clear perceptions 
the poet should yet retain in his teaching the wildest fictions of Hel- 
lenic theology. But these traditions, we must always remember, 
formed in those days an essential part of all poetic lore. Trained to 
receive them from its earliest years, a pious, reverential mind like 
Pindar's would be slow indeed to reject them wholly ; rather he would 
try to mould and blend them into something at least which resembled 
consistence with the higher truths of his discernment. For a man so 
loyal and generous, scepticism on points like these was a feeling all but 
impossible. Indeed that his worship of the gods was as genuine in 
practice as in theory, we know from the records of an ancient and 
credible historian." (The " Neniean Odes of Pindar," by the Rev. 
Arthur Holmes, 1867.) 



PREFACE. IX 

the one great idea, the contemplation of human 
glory as attained by the grace of the gods, in the 
great athletic contests of Hellas. In him we see 
reflected the intense admiration of the early Greeks 
for bodily strength, skill, beauty, endurance, and all 
those qualities which adorn the outer man and make 
him enviable in the sight of others. Additional 
value is imparted to works as early as Pindar's, viz., 
reaching back five centuries before our era, 1 by the 
knowledge that we have, in most cases, of the exact 
year in which the odes were composed, or at least, 
in which the victories they commemorate were 
gained. Contrasted with the utter vagueness and 
uncertainty attending the dates of the poems which 
have come to us under the names of Homer and 
Hesiod, this is a satisfactory circumstance. "We now 
for the first time in Grecian annals feel that we are 
fairly and safely within the historic period ; and 
though the historical facts are incidental, and 
generally subordinate to the legendary, they have 
this special interest, — the victors are real persons, 
whose country, parentage, clan, and in part, family 
history, are given us with circumstantial minute- 
ness. The localities are real, and the games, if 
mythical in their institution, were historical in 
their periodical recurrence. From these considera- 
tions alone we perceive how different is the posi- 

1 The oldest extant ode, Pyth. x., dates b.c. 502. 



X PREFACE. 

tion which Homer and Pindar hold in Grecian 
literature. 

Of the many compositions attributed to Pindar, — 
hymns, dithyrambs, paeans, dancing-songs, and not 
a few others, 1 — it may seem remarkable that the 
Epinicia alone have descended to our times, and that 
these seem to be complete, with the exception, pro- 
bably, of a few which have been lost from the end 
of the Isthmia. 2 This may be partly due to the 
interest which, in later times, when these poems 
first began to be collected, the representatives of the 
old Doric clans felt in perpetuating the honours of 
their houses. There is not the slightest proof that 
the Odes of Pindar were originally written. On the 
contrary, there are several strong arguments to 
prove they were orally taught, and conveyed to 
their destination by ayyeXot, i.e., by persons in- 
structed by Pindar himself both in the words and 
the music, and commissioned to teach them to the 
local choruses by whom they were to be publicly 
performed. Not only is there no mention in Pindar 
of reading and writing (except the single allusion to 
a written name 3 under the words avayvcovai and 
ypdfaiv), but the oral conveyance by dyyeXot is often 
alluded to, 4 and the words in 01. vi. 91 seem abso- 

1 Enumerated in p. 327 of Dr, Donaldson's edition. 

2 Donaldson, p. 329. 

3 01. xi. 1-3. Compare 01. iii. 30. 

4 01. yi. 90 ; Pytk. iv. 279 ; 01. ix. 25, etc. 



PREFACE. XI 

lutely to admit of no other interpretation ; - for the 
poet there compares the person who is sent to 
impart the ode to a scytale or writing-staff, — a short 
wooden cylinder round which a paper was wrapped 
for penning brief messages. If the man carried 
with him the ode written, the comparison is utterly 
pointless. He is called a scytale because he performs 
the same part, vicariously, of communicating a mes- 
sage. It would be perfectly absurd to call an 
errand-boy figuratively " a note/' simply because he 
carried a note to a friend's house. I cannot here go 
into this question at length, though quite prepared 
to do so, and though it is one of the greatest im- 
portance and interest. I will merely state in few 
words my present conviction, — that a written litera- 
ture was entirely unknown to the Greeks even in the 
times of Pindar. 

The great value attached to a hymn of victory 
composed by a poet of note, is clear from many pas- 
sages. Pindar himself is conscious of his importance, 
and does not attempt to disguise it. Though only 
orally learnt, and orally perpetuated, an ode record- 
ing a great victory would not have been allowed 
to perish in any family. Every anniversary of 
the event would be duly solemnised by the per- 
formance or recitation of it. Pindar himself calls 
the comus-song " a long-lasting light of deeds of 
valour," "a much-talked-of hymn," "a much-ad- 



XU PREFACE. 

mired hymn," etc. 1 When the period arrived, 
some generations later, when the oral compositions 
of the earlier bards began to be consigned to 
writing, it was this class of odes which would be 
the most easily recovered and the most religiously 
preserved. 

To understand this the better, we must take a 
glance at the nature of the festivities held on the 
occasion of a victory (eiriviiaa), and at the per- 
formance of the comus-song itself. It seems that a 
grand banquet was given to the victor and his 
friends by the members of his clan, in which hired 
choruses, with players on the pipe and the lute, 2 
were engaged to sing the victor's praises. This was 
done either by a procession through the streets 
(kw/jlo?) to the house of the victor or the temple of 
his patron- god, or by a chorus of boys or men who 
danced and sang to music in the front court 
(irpoOvpov) of the house, or before the temple, or 
perhaps at the banquet itself. The processional 
comus-song has its modern counterpart in the bands 
of country-people who in some, perhaps most, of the 
romance countries may be seen coming down from 
the mountains in companies, headed by a person 
with a guitar, singing and stamping out a tune to 

1 01. i. 8 ; iv. 10 ; Ncm. vii. 81 ; Isthm. iii. 39. 

2 Pindar mentions the two together in several passages ; but in 
01. iii. 8, he speaks of a peculiar arrangement of words to the pipe 
and the lute as a recent invention of his own. 



PREFACE. Xlll 

the music. All Greek metre of the choral kind is 
in fact a dancing-step of some sort ; the beat to 
which an air was danced and sung. 1 Hence the 
metre is called irehCkov in 01. iii. 5. The terms 
strophe and antistrophe mean, that the same dance, 
consisting of a certain number of turns and figures, 
performed by one half of the chorus, was taken up 
responsively by the other half, in the way of part 
and counterpart. Pindar's metres in this respect do 
not differ in any essential particular from those of 
the Greek choruses, which were also performed to 
music, like our operas. Those odes which have the 
Doric beat are in fact extremely simple, being 
mere alternations of trochees with dactyls, as in 
the third Olympian and the fourth Pythian ode. 
The Aeolian or Aeolo-Lydian odes are distin- 
guished by combinations of short syllables, and 
they are more complex and less simple in their 
beat. The two first Olympian odes are Aeolian, the 
fourth is Aeolo-Lydian, and more nearly approaches 
the dactylic run of the Dorian. 

The simplest and oldest form of the comus-song 



1 This, I conceive, was the fiv6fibs or "time" of the music. Dr. 
Donaldson's explanation of the word (Preface, p. xvi.) is to me some- 
what ohscure ; he says it was " either the relative duration of the 
sounds which enter into the composition of a piece of music, or the 
relative duration of the times occupied in pronouncing the syllables of 
averse." In other words, he says, it was "a regulating principle 
which connected the music with the metres." 



XIV PREFACE. 

was that described in 01. ix. 1, and alluded to in the 
last verse of the Acharnians of Aristophanes, 

T7]veXXa KctXkiviKov cfiovTes (re kol\ rbp ol(Tk6v. 

It consisted of three verses/ or rather of two with 
the addition of rrjveXKa KaXkLviice. These were sung 
without music ((frcovaev) but the word TrjveKKa was 
so pronounced as to imitate the sound of a harp- 
string (like our words ting or twang ; compare the 
Latin tinnulus). In the absence of a more elaborate 
ode, this seems to have been, so to call it, the regu- 
lation-song with which a victor was escorted either 
to the temple, to acknowledge the victory, or to his 
own home or that of his father. 

Much solemnity was added to these processions by 
the carrying of the newly-won crown, probably held 
aloft conspicuously on a pole, to be consecrated at 
the altar of some god. 2 This was called a arefyavr)- 
(fiopla, and was regarded at once as an act of piety 
and generosity in the victor ; it does not appear 
however to have been the rule, or even the ordinary 
practice. Yet from 01. xiii. 29, it might be inferred 
that the crown itself was usually exhibited in the 
procession, even when not intended as an offering. 

There is yet another circumstance that adds a 
peculiar interest to the Odes of Pindar, and it is one 
to which less attention has hitherto been directed 



1 They are given in Dr. Donaldson's note on 01. ix. i. 

2 See 01. ix. fin., Pyth. ii. 6, and Nem. v. fin. 



PREFACE. XV 

than it deserves. It is this ; that though he dwells 
much and often on Homeric themes and characters, 
it is only occasionally that he touches on scenes in 
our Iliad or Odyssey. 1 The fact is extremely sug- 
gestive, and raises grave doubts if Pindar could have 
known the Homeric poems in the form under which 
we now have them. As that form bears the clearest 
indications, both in diction and allusions, of an 
Asiatic hand, it is by no means improbable that, if 
they then existed at all in their present form (which 
appears to me far from certain, since it is not till the 
time of Plato, or very little before it, that we are 
able to identify them with certainty by quotations 
from them), they were unknown to a Doric poet of 
European extraction. Even if he did know them, it 
seems likely that he would be content to follow the 
local stories about Achilles which then prevailed at 
Aegina and Phthiotis, near his own native town of 
Thebes. And these stories, relating mainly to the 
early education of the hero by Chiron, and his more 
youthful exploits, are, as might be expected, in 
many, though not in all, respects different from his 
adventures as described in the Iliad, at an advanced 
period of the war. 2 

1 I have pointed out this fact elsewhere, in the Preface to Yol. i. of 
the Iliad, p. xxvii., and in a paper on the date of those poems, pub- 
lished in the Transactions of the Camb. Phil. Soc. (vol. ix. part ii.) 

2 Among many other passages I may refer the student to 01. ii. 
81-3 ; ix. 71-9 ; Pyth. vi. 28 seqq. ; Nem. ill. 43 ; vi. 52 ; vii. 34 ; 
x. 7 ; Isth. iv. 39 ; yii. 50. 



XVl PREFACE. 

Those who maintain that because some of the 
allusions in Pindar to the story of Helen, Glaucus 
the Corinthian, Hector, Ajax, 1 etc., suit more or 
less well the narrative in our Iliad, therefore Pindar 
was acquainted with that poem, are bound to fur- 
nish a reasonable explanation of the wide discre- 
pancy that exists in other passages between the 
Pindaric and the Homeric accounts. In some of the 
former, e.g. in 01. ii. 79, we seem to have a strange 
combination of what is in our Homer with what is 
not. " Achilles was brought (viz., to the isles of 
the blest) by his mother, after she had persuaded the 
heart of Zeus by her prayers ; 2 that hero who proved 
himself more than a match for Hector, that sturdy 
pillar of Troy, and who gave Cycnus to death, and 
the Ethiopian son of the Morning (Memnon)." 
Again, in Isthm. iv. 39 the same characters are 
joined [with another non- Homeric one, " Say, who 
slew Cycnus, who Hector, and the undaunted leader of 
the Ethiopian hosts, Memnon of the brazen spear : 
who it was that wounded the brave Telephus with 
his spear by the banks of the Ca'icus." 3 What is 
more perplexing still, Pindar gives a detailed ac- 
count of events only just alluded to, and apparently 
epitomised, in our Homer. Thus, in Od. iv. 187, we 
read that a son of Nestor wept, " for he remembered 

1 01. xiii. 59 ; ii. 79 ; Nem. ii. 14. 

2 See II. i. 524. 

3 Memnon is only once mentioned by name in the Odyssey, xi. 522. 



PREFACE. XV11 

in his soul the valiant Antilochus, whom the hand- 
some son of the bright Morning (i.e., Memnon) 
slew." Now in Pyth. vi. 28-39 we have a full 
narrative of the whole affair. The very slight allu- 
sion to the suicide of Ajax, through his defeat in 
the contest for the armour of Achilles, in Od. xi. 
545, cannot possibly have given rise to the fuller 
details in Nem. vii. 25 and viii. 23 seqq., and in the 
play of Sophocles. 1 In Nem. viii. 30 we find that 
Ulysses and Ajax both fought for the recovery of 
the body of Achilles ; whereas the death of that 
hero by Paris is only spoken of as " looming in the 
distance " in the Iliad. In Isthm. vii. 47 it is said 
that "the mouths of poets 2 showed forth to the 
inexperienced the valour of Achilles, who slew 
Telephus, secured the return of the Atridae, and 
killed Memnon, Hector, and other chiefs ; " and then 
he adds a passage nearly identical with that in 
Od. xxiv, 60 seqq., describing how the Muses came 
and wept over the pyre of Achilles. In fine, if any 
student will carefully compare (which he can easily 



1 The common opinion is, that the fuller details were borrowed 
from post-Homeric poets. Thus Mr. Jebb (Preface to the Ajax, p. vi.) 
says, " In the interval between the Odyssey and Pindar, the episode of 
the contest for the arms was elaborated by two epic writers, of whom 
Proclns has preserved fragments ; by Arctinns of Miletus, circ. 780 
b.c, in his Aethiopis ; and by Le'sches of Lesbos, circ. 700 b.c, in his 
Ilias Minor" 

2 <ro<pu)v arSfjiara, as if Pindar recognised several poets (the rhap- 
sodists, doubtless), and so Thucydides mentions ol iraKaiol r&v itoltjtqoj/, 
whereas we fancy that our Homer alone is the source of all these tales. 



XV111 PREFACE. 

do by the help of the index) all the passages in 
Pindar in which Peleus, Thetis, and Achilles are 
mentioned by name, he will find, perhaps with some 
surprise, that by far the greater part contain allu- 
sions to stories not found in our Homer at all. 

I may here add, as a noteworthy circumstance, 
that a people called Mepoires are twice mentioned 
by Pindar, 1 whereas in our Homeric text (though 
Mepoyfr occurs as a man's name) we have the word 
only as an epithet, and in a combination which 
nobody pretends exactly to understand, fiepoircov 
av0pct)7rcDV. 

Unquestionably, I think, either Pindar knew more 
epics on the Troica than are contained in our 
Homer, and held them to be of equal authority, 
or our own Homer is a compilation later than 
Pindar's time. The subject yet demands a very 
careful critical investigation. The difficulties of it 
are not to be evaded, by saying that Pindar may 
easily be supposed to have known and borrowed 
from both our Homer and the " inferior and later " 
Cyclic poets. That is a very superficial view of the 
matter. Pindar knew the tale of Troy generally 
from the rhapsodists, without distinction of early or 
late (see Pyth. iii. 113, Nem. ii. 1.) There are these 
two main facts (among many others) which, I repeat, 
must be fairly met and fully explained. (1.) Our 
1 Nem. iv. 26 ; Isthm. v. 29. 



PREFACE. XIX 

Homer briefly embodies many incidents which, are 
known to have been treated at length in those very 
" Cyclics " ; (2.) The ancient poets and artists, be- 
fore about B.C. 420, were perfectly familiar with the 
"Cyclic" stories, while they show no clear recogni- 
tion of our Homeric text. 

There are some peculiarities in Pindar's style, on 
which it may be well here to say a few words, since 
the right understanding of them will often prove a 
key to his meaning. 

1. His fondness for digression, or, in other words, 
his habit of running off into long legends imme- 
diately after mentioning the name of some hero. 
Thus, 01. i. 25, " His glory shines in the colony 
of Pelops, of whom Poseidon was enamoured when/' 
etc., and so on for the next eighty lines. Pyth. ix. 
5, " the crown of Cyrene (the nymph) whom Apollo 
carried off from Pelion," of which the story is then 
given in about as many verses. 01. vi. 28, " This 
day we must visit Pitane, who is said to have given 
birth to a son to Poseidon," of which the account 
directly follows, with the history of the child in 
the next fifty verses. Pyth. iv. 3, " We must swell 
the gale of song for Pytho, where erst the priestess 
foretold that Battus should be king of Cyrene." 
This introduces at once the long story, in 250 
lines, of the Argonauts, the ancestors of Battus. 
Pyth. iii. 5, " that Chiron had been still alive, as 



XX PREFACE. 

when lie educated Asclepius, whom the daughter of 
Phlegyas gave birth to, but died in child-bed." 
Then the poet tells the whole tale of that event in 
fifty verses. Nem. x. 49, " As Castor was a guest 
of one of the victor's ancestors, no wonder that he 
is great in the games ; for Castor and his brother 
preside over them, living alternately in heaven and 
on earth." The story follows in about forty verses 
to the end of the ode. 

These tales, which are very numerous, and told 
with admirable spirit, form the most pleasing part 
of Pindar's works. It must be admitted that they 
have sometimes the appearance of being as it were 
dragged in ; but the explanation is very simple : the 
poet's object was to praise not only the victor but 
his clan, or even his city ; and to do this in a 
manner most pleasing to them he was compelled 
to dwell on the local or family legends, nearly all 
of which turn on some supernatural proofs of 
favour, or on a more or less remote descent from 
the gods. On the subject of Aegina and the Aea- 
cidae the poet is always specially eloquent, in- 
fluenced, it seems, by traditions of a mythical 
relation between the presiding divinities of Aegina 
and Thebes. 1 He evidently thought that the ancient 
heroes of that island had attained to the utmost 
height of glory in war that man could attain to, 

1 Isthm. vii. 16. 



PREFACE. XXI 

and that beyond that there was nothing much 
worth living for. These opinions, which he held 
in common with Homer, make us reflect how late 
in man's history is any notion of a spiritual life, 
or of a higher end than human aggrandisement. 
There is only one great theological passage, so to 
call it, in Pindar, and that is the remarkable and 
very explicit statement in 01. ii. 55-75, of a final 
judgment 1 and of the happier lot of the good 
than of the bad hereafter. The ideas are mate- 
rialistic, derived, probably, from the teachings of 
Orpheus and Pythagoras. But Pindar had a 
reverent and even superstitiously pious mind, and 
he not unfrequently dwells earnestly on the penal- 
ties incurred by presumption, on the danger of too 
great prosperity, on speaking disparagingly or rashly 
about the gods, and on prying into or aspiring to 
things too high for man, 2 in terms evidently in- 
tended to inculcate humility in the mind of the 
victor whom he is addressing. 

2. Pindar was fond of imparting indirect advice, 
by allusions to events, real or mythical, which fur- 
nished a moral suitable to the occasion. In this 
way he seems to have now and then touched safely 

1 Compare Aeschylus, Suppl. 230. 

* For example, 01. i. 60 ; Pyth. ii. 30 ; Isthm. vi. 39. Any one 
who wishes to pursue this subject should study the Uiuddpov 
yvSbixai collected in pp. xxix.-xl. of the Preface to Dr. Donaldson's 
edition. 



XX11 PREFACE. 

on very weak points in the characters of his patrons, 
such as meanness, tyrannical conduct, incontinence, 
or ingratitude. Examples of this are very nu- 
merous; see, for instance, Pyth. ii. 21, x. 31, xi. 
18 ; N em. viii. 18. In this respect, as in his 
general defence of kings and of the aristocracy, he 
had to act with great caution, for he had both 
rival poets, especially Bacchylides and Simonides, 
to compete with in securing court-favour, and a 
host of enemies besides, 1 who were either jealous of 
his fame, or thought themselves slighted by not 
being noticed in his poems. Beside these obstacles 
in his path, he had to keep clear of the factions 
in the Greek cities ; and he occasionally 2 shows a 
desire to steer clear of extremes, and to please all 
parties as far as he could. 

3. The habit of borrowing metaphors and figures 
of speech from the particular contest he is cele- 
brating may be called one of Pindar's peculiarities. 
There is a striking example of this in the con- 
cluding verses of Nem. iv., which is noticed by Dr. 
Donaldson. Generally, this may be said to give 
quite a tone to the poet's phraseology, for he is 
continually talking of ascending the car of poetry, 
aiming a javelin at the mark, the crowns and 
flowers of song, the nimble foot of the runner, the 

1 See Pyth. ii. 80 ; Nem. iv. 36. 

2 See Pyth. xi. 52. 



PREFACE. XX111 

active spring in leaping, etc. Without feeling that 
this is an indication of a mind absorbed in his 
subject, we should be apt to call it a monotony of 
expression. It certainly gives a colouring, so to 
say, to his generally figurative language, 1 and forms 
one of the principal sources from which his figures 
are taken. 

Among the ancient traditions 2 recorded by Pin- 
dar there are three or four of special interest, on 
which a few words will not, perhaps, be thought 
out of place. The art of writing of itself is not, 
to judge by the existing monuments of antiquity, 
of a very early date. The art of transcribing 
literature and of producing prose histories, which 
could only coexist with it, is, I am rnyself con- 
vinced, very much later still, and probably was not 
in existence till about the middle of the fifth cen- 
tury B.C. 3 But who shall limit the memory of man, 
or who can deny the possibility at least of his 
having handed down, even from very remote times, 



1 To mention one example among so many, in Nem. ix. 10, 
iira(TKe7u nva rivals, "to exercise a- man in honours," i.e., to exalt 
or adorn him, is a phrase borrowed from the training-school. 

2 That, for instance, of the creation of the human race out of 
stones, in 01. ix. 45, and of a happy and prosperous "Hyperborean " 
people, free from illnesses and old age, supposed to live near the 
source of the Danube, 01. iii. 16 ; Pyth. x. 30-44. These legends 
are too vague and too misty for serious discussion, though they seem to 
carry us back to very early times. 

3 Thucydides, it may^ be remarked, though he professes some 
research, in no single instance refers to any written account, but 
always relies on a/co^, "hearsay." 



XXIV PREFACE. 

traditions of great natural phenomena or changes 
in the earth's conditions ? Rather let us say, that 
if any such had occurred, in times however ancient, 
it was unlikely they would be forgotten, though 
they might and would be overlaid and obscured 
by myths. In the present state of knowledge, we 
shall hardly be justified in treating as mere figments 
accounts in themselves possible, and expressly given 
by Pindar himself (in two instances at least 1 ) as 
" ancient traditions of the human race." I will 
briefly touch on four events of the old world 
which seem not obscurely stated in Pindar, and 
which, even as matters of speculation, have a high 
scientific interest. These are, — 

1. The tradition of a local deluge in Thessaly. 

2. The elevation of the island of Rhodes from the 
sea-bottom. 

3. A post-glacial or cold period in the Pelopon- 
nesus. 

4. The existence of icebergs in the Pontus. 
With regard to the first, 2 it is stated, as a 

tradition, that " the dark earth was once over- 
whelmed by a mighty flood, but that by the con- 
trivance of Zeus an ebb carried off the stagnant 
water." The scene of this event was evidently 

1 01. vii. 54, (poLvrl 5' ayOpdorrcav iraXaiat fr-haies, etc., and ib. ix. 49, 
AeyovTi fiau %Q6vol, etc. 

2 01. ix. 49 seqq. 



PREFACE. XXV 

Thessaly ; for the poet is speaking of events which 
took place near Parnassus and in Locris. That the 
alluvial plains of Thessaly were once, like the 
low level of the Sahara desert, submerged, even 
within the human period, is probable from other 
considerations, and is confirmed by two traditions 
mentioned by Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, 1 
that all the country in the neighbourhood of the 
Peneius in Thessaly was once a lake, till Hercules 
drained the region by cutting a channel ; and that 
the Mediterranean Sea was closed, till the same 
hero opened a passage to the outer ocean by divid- 
ing the mountain-barrier at Gibraltar. 2 



1 Lib. iv. chap. 18. On the passage in Herodotus (vii. 129) see the 
learned notes of Mr, Blakesley. 

2 The probability of this geologically, and apart from tradition, has 
struck others. The following extract is from a little book called 
" Palm Leaves from the Nile," (Shrewsbury, 1865) : — 

"I sit down to declare the theory I have formed to explain the 
existence in the desert of sea-shells, not fossils, but of the common 
ordinary character of those that are at the present day to be found on 
our own sea-shores ; for in the desert, not far from the Pyramids, did 
I pick up and bring home, and now possess, a few of those shells, and 
could have collected a wheelbarrow full had I chosen : but the ques- 
tion is, how did they get there, a hundred and fifty or two hundred 
miles at present from any sea ? And be it remembered that there are 
at the present day to the north and east of the Black Sea extensive 
tracts of level sandy steppes or plains covered, as this desert is, with 
similar shells, and indicating the former existence of seas there. Now 
let us suppose the Straits of Gibraltar, the Bosphorus, and the Dar- 
danelles to be, not, as they now are, open passages, but the ranges of 
mountains on either side closed up and united, so as to block up the 
Mediterranean and upper waters at a higher level, just as the large 
American lakes are now kept at their level, higher than the ocean. — 
Let us then suppose a volcanic disturbance separating the mountains 
in the places stated, and thereby forming the present straits, — the 
result would fallow that the pent-up waters would lower to their 



XXY1 PREFACE. 

With this tradition of an inundation on the 
eastern coast of Hellas perfectly accords the legend 
of the dark blue moving rocks, the Cyaneae, or 
Symplegades, at the mouth of the Pontus, and 
which are described as rolling and plunging pre- 
cisely as icebergs are often seen to do. 1 When 
the Pontus was a closed lake, as even human tra- 
dition distinctly states that it once was, 2 — it was 
very likely indeed, especially towards the close of 
a glacial period, that great accumulations of ice 
should have been formed in so vast a basin, borne 
down from the northern rivers. When the lake 
burst its barriers, they would be carried by the 
current towards the entrance of the straits, and 
there become stranded, as the story says that in 
fact they did. 3 

Again, with this further accords the statement 

of Pindar, 4 that the scorched plains of Pisa 5 were 

formerly wetted by great snow-storms (fipexero 

TroXka vicj)d8c). Modern research seems to have 

proved that man did inhabit Europe during a 

period of great cold. Everything which bears 

upon this view seems to hang well together ; the 

present level, leaving on the Libyan desert and on the steppes or 
extensive plains I have mentioned, the shells of the type of the present 
day." 

1 See Pyth, iv. 209, and the note there. The name alone Kvaveau 
is certainly very significant. 

2 Diodor. Sic. lib. v. cap. 47. 

3 See Theocrit. xiii. 24, aft w tote xo'paSes %(jtq.v. 

4 01. xi. 51. 5 01. iii. 24. 



PREFACE. XXV11 

series of traditions, geological indications, facts 
brought to light by science, and the antecedent 
probabilities which forbid us at least to reject such 
traditions rashly, or to class them with the idle 
tales of mere mythology. 

The same remarks apply to the account Pindar 
gives of the gradual upheaval of the island of 
Rhodes. 1 It was seen, he says (by the sun-god to 
whom it was afterwards consecrated) " to grow up 
within the sea from the bottom ;" and again, 
"there sprang up from the watery main an island." 
Now, if we combine this tradition with the very 
definite and oft-repeated tale of the upheaval of 
Delos, and especially with the quite recent eleva- 
tion of a part of Santorin (the ancient Thera), we 
shall be forcibly struck with the fact that all the 
three islands lie within an area of known volcanic 
disturbance. 2 It is therefore at least as probable 
that the two islands were really upheaved, as it is 
improbable that such stories should have been 
invented and gained credit without the slightest 
foundation in fact. 

What Pindar further says about gold having 
been rained down upon the island from a yellow 
cloud by Zeus, 3 may be explained, either by the 

1 01. vii. 62. 2 See Johnston's Physical Atlas, plate v. 

3 01. vii. 50. A tradition like this, but more ambiguously ex- 
pressed, is given in Horn. II. ii. 670, about the Rhodians, kqX cr<piv 
decrirecrioj/ irKovrov Kare'xeve Kpovioov. 



XXV111 PREFACE. 



fall of metallic meteorites, or by gold being found 
in the island, resulting from particles carried into 
the sea with the sand from neighbouring rivers. 

Some apology is due to the student for the 
desultory nature of these introductory remarks. 
They are, in truth, intended to be suggestive only, 
and to point out that some questions may be raised 
on the works of an old Greek author, which are 
more congenial to the science and the tastes of 
our own age than dull discussions on MS. read- 
ings or grammatical difficulties. Above all, I am 
anxious to call attention to the " Homeric " ques- 
tion, and to invite those equally interested in it 
with myself to study it with, and test it by, Pin- 
dar and the Greek vases, as our earliest represen- 
tatives of Grecian literature and Grecian art. For, 
strange as it may seem, up to the present day (so 
far as I have been able to ascertain) this particular 
examination has not only not been adequately made, 
but it has scarcely been entered upon. 

Nothing can be more certain than that, along with 
the ' Tale of Troy/ there existed in the time of Pin- 
dar, a ' Tale of Thebes ; ' and of this epic both he 
and the Tragics make almost as extensive a use as of 
the other. Such plays as the ( Seven against Thebes ' 
of Aeschylus, the ' Antigone' of Sophocles, the 'Phoe- 
nissae' of Euripides, were borrowed from the T/iebdis, 
which, it is most important to observe, was also at- 



PREFACE. XXIX 

tributed to Homer even in the time of Herodotus ; 
for, lie says (lib. iv. 32) that " Homer lias treated of 
the Hyperboreans 1 in the Epigoni" adding, as his 
own remark, " if, indeed, Homer did compose those 
epics." The Epigoni was an episode of the Thebais, 
and from it the ' Suppliants ' of Euripides are de- 
rived. Mr. Blakesley very ingeniously observes, on 
the above passage of Herodotus, that the statement 
in lib. v. 67, where the historian says that " Cleis- 
thenes stopped the Rhapsodists from reciting Bower's 
epics at Sicyon, because Argos and the Argives are 
so much praised in them/' most probably refers to 
the Thebais. It is also recorded that the poet Anti- 
machus 2 made an e/cSocn? or edition of both the Iliad 
and the Thebais. It is not too much to say, that if 
we took from Pindar and the Tragics these two great 
epics, the Troica and the Thebaica, we should deprive 
them of almost their whole stock of subject-matter. 
How greatly Pindar was indebted to the Thebais will 
be seen by a reference to the following passages : 01. 
ii. 38-45, vi. 16 ; Pyth. iv. 263, viii. 39-55 ; Nem. 
ix. 16-25, x. 8 ; Isthm. vi. 8-11. 

Now it is very remarkable, that in our Iliad and 
Odyssey not a few passages occur which evidently 
were adapted from the more ancient Thebais, such as 



1 Hence, perhaps, Pindar borrowed his remarks about the Hyper- 
boreans (01. iii. 17; Pyth. x. 30 ; Isthm. v. 22). 

2 He was a contemporary of Socrates (see Wolf, Proleg. § xl.). 



XXX PREFACE. 

the mention of Oedipus in II. xxiii. 679, and the 
verses in Od. xi. 260-84, and 326-7, also in Od. xv. 
243-4, where the seer Amphiaraus the son of Oc- 
cleus is mentioned. 

Our poems, then, actually embody allusions to 
events treated of in what are mis-called the ' Cyclic 
poets ' and the c Thebais/ On the other hand, they 
do not coincide with what we have every reason to 
believe was accepted as ' the Homer ' of antiquity. 

Surely these facts, taken together, ought to make 
us pause in giving full credit to the prevalent opinion 
that our Homer is the genuine and original Homer 
of the very remote antiquity of B.C. 850 or 900 ! 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Olympian Odes 1 

Pythian Odes 71 

Nemean Odes 162 

Isthmian Odes 226 



THE OLYMPIAN ODES. 



This ode was composed to commemorate a victory- 
won with the single horse by Hiero, king of Syra- 
cuse, B.C. 472. He had previously gained a similar 
victory in B.C. 488, to which allusion is made in 
ver. 23. (See Pyth. iii.). Dr. Donaldson thinks this 
ode was sung at a banquet at Syracuse, at which 
the poet was present ; an inference drawn from the 
words in ver. 16, oca iraitp^iev <j)i\av afjbcjn rpdire^av. 
The bards (aotSol) were an appanage of a royal 
court, like Demodocus in the Odyssey (viii. 44). 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

Olympia is conspicuous for its games, which are the 
greatest in all Hellas. — Hiero, the victor, is the theme of 
the ode, in which mention also must be made of his good 
steed Pherenicus. — His former victory at Olympia. — The 
legend of this colony being founded by Pelops, the son of 
Tantalus. — The poet rejects the common story about the 
cannibal feast, in which the flesh of Pelops was partly 
eaten. — The pride of Tantalus, his fall and punishment. — 
Marriage of Pelops and Hippodamia. — His burial, and the 
games celebrated near his tumulus. — Good wishes for the 
future successes and prosperity of Hiero. 

1 



2 THE ODES OF PINDAR. 1-22.] 

Nothing is so excellent as water. Gold, like a 
blazing fire that is seen from afar in the night, 
shines prominently amidst lordly wealth ; but if, my 
heart, it is of prizes that you desire to speak, look not 
further 1 than the sun in the day time for some other 
bright star of more genial warmth in the desert air, 
and let us not speak of any contest as superior to 
that at Olympia; for this is a theme 2 in which the 
genius of poets is wrapped, to celebrate in the far- 
famed song the son of Cronus, when they come to the 
rich and happy home of Hiero, who wields the sceptre 
of justice in Sicily abounding in flocks, practising 3 
the highest of all the virtues. He is bedizened also 
with the choicest flowers of music in such lays as we 
grown-up bards 4 often sport at the friendly table. 
Take then the Doric lute from the peg, if this 
victory of Pherenicus 5 at Pisa has suggested sweetest 
thoughts to your mind, when he started in the race 
on the banks of Alpheus, yielding service of a body 
ungoaded in the heats, and brought his owner to 

1 In English idiom, " As one would not look beyond the sun to find 
a brighter star, so we need not attempt to describe any contest as 
greater than that at Olympia." Compare Nem. iv. 82. The games 
at Elis are always spoken of by Pindar as the oldest and greatest in 
Hellas. 

2 Lit. "Whence the oft-recited (or much celebrated) hymn en- 
grosses (or enwraps) the genius of poets to sing," etc. The metaphor 
seems borrowed from a cloak or mantle. 

3 Lit. "Culling the heads from all the virtues," i.e., eminent for 
justice, hospitality, liberality in the games, etc. X metaphor from the 
collection of flowers. 

4 Contrasted with a chorus of boys or maidens. 

5 Uiero's horse. 



23-40] 



OLYMPIAN ODE I. 



victory, the Syracusan king who takes delight in 
his steeds. Bright already is his renown 1 at the well- 
peopled colony of the Lydian Pelops, (that hero of 
old) of whom the mighty earth-holding Poseidon 
became enamoured so soon as Clotho had taken him 
from out the cleansing laver with his white shoulder 
adorned with [ivory. 2 Truly many things are won- 
derful ; and it may be that in some cases fables 
dressed up with cunning fictions beyond the true 
account falsify the traditions of men. But Poesy, 
which is the author of all that affords pleasure to 
mortals, by giving (to these myths) acceptance, 
ofttimes makes what is incredible to be credible ; 3 
but succeeding time gives the most certain evidence 
of truth. 4 Now for a man it is reasonable that he 
should say about the gods (only) what is good ; for 
the blame is less. Of thee, then, son of Tantalus, 
I shall speak in contrary terms to those who went 
before me ; that when your father had summoned 
you to that most religious 5 banquet, and to his 
favourite Sipylus, on giving a return-dinner to the 
gods, on that occasion the lord of the glittering 

1 For he had won a former victory at Olympia. 

2 The name ITeAoi// means " dark-faced," and the tale may easily be 
explained by some swarthy sun-burnt stranger haying shown a whiter 
skin on removing his mantle from his shoulder. 

3 Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. ch. xvi. § 42, "ea quae poetarum vocibus 
fusa ipsa suavitate nocuerunt." Tibullus, i. 4, 63, "carmina ni sint, 
ex humero Pelopis non nituisset ebur." 

4 That is, fiction will seldom stand the test of time. 

5 Others had described it as impious, or a cannibal feast, 



4 THE ODES OF PINDAR. 41-59] 

trident carried you off, overcome in his heart by 
love, in order to transfer you on his golden steeds 
to the celestial abodes of the widely - worshipped 
Zeus, where, in after time, Granymede also came to 
render the same service 1 for Zeus. But when you 
had disappeared, and men after long search brought 
you not to your mother, forthwith some one of the 
ill-natured neighbours secretly said that over water 
at the boiling point they had cut you limb by limb 
with a carving-knife, and at the tables had shared 
among them stewed pieces of your flesh and eaten 
them. For me, however, it is difficult to call any 
one of the blessed gods a cannibal ; I leave the 
subject, — ofttimes slanderers get no good for their 
pains. 2 For, surely, if there was any mortal man 
that the guardians of Olympus honoured, that man 
was Tantalus. But, alas ! he was not able to digest 
his great happiness, 3 but through excess of it he 
got an overwhelming woe, which the father laid 
on him by hanging over him a mighty stone ; for 
he is ever anxiously striving to shift it away from 
his head, and thus strays from the path of happiness. 
And he endures this helpless life of constant toil, — 



1 The poet represents Pelops as the first iraitiiKa, or favourite boy, 
who was taken up to heaven. 

2 The poet perhaps alludes to Homer and Stesichorus, who were 
said to have been struck blind for speaking evil of Helen. — Plato, 
Phozdr. p. 243. A. 

3 Viz., in having a son carried up to heaven, and himself being 
made a guest of the gods. 



60-80] OLYMPIAN ODE I. 5 

a fourth, suffering with other three/ — because he 
stealthily took from the immortals and gave to 
others of his own age, at a banquet, the nectar and 
ambrosia 2 wherewith they had made him exempt 
from death. But if a man expects that in doing 
anything he will not be seen by the god, he is in 
error. For that reason the immortals gave up to 
him his son, 3 to return to the short-lived race of 
men. But when, as he neared the blooming period 
of his growth, the down began to cover his darken- 
ing chin, he bethought himself of a ready marriage, 
to obtain from her sire at Pisa a maid of high repute, 
Hippodamia. So coming close to the hoary sea 
alone in the dark, he called out to the deep-rum- 
bling wielder of the trident ; and he appeared to 
him close at his foot. To him he spake, " Come 
now, Poseidon, if the dear gifts of the Cyprian 
goddess have any charm for thee, 4 stop short the 
brazen spear of Oenomaus, and convey me on the 
swiftest steeds to Elis, and bring me to victory. For 
(this man) has already slain thirteen lovers, and 
keeps putting off the marriage of his daughter. But 



1 Sisyphus, Ixion, Tityus. 

2 Tantalus had endeavoured to make others immortal as ys*ell as 
himself by giving them ambrosia, i.e. to taste of immortality. This 
legend curiously agrees with the "tree of knowledge" in Genesis ii. 17. 

3 Projeceruni. They turned out of heaven, as it were, the handsome 
youth who had been taken thither by Poseidon. Here again, we have 
a remarkable analogy to Adam's being turned out of Paradise. 

4 Pelops, it will be remembered, had been the youthful favourite 
of Poseidon. 



6 THE ODES OF PINDAR. 81-103] 

a danger which, is great allows not a man to play 
the coward. When men must die, why should one 
sit in the dark and spend to no purpose a sodden, 
nameless life, unsharing in any noble deeds ? No ; / 
will take up this enterprise as a contest, and do you 
give it favourable effect." Thus he spake, nor en- 
gaged in vain words. To do him honour, the god 
gave him a golden car and winged steeds untiring in 
their flight; so he caught the mighty Oenomaus, and 
won the maid for his bride. 1 And he begat six sons, 
chieftains, who held deeds of valour in regard ; and 
now he shares in the honours of blood-offerings 
where he lies buried by Alpheus' stream, and has 
a barrow accessible on all sides near a much- visited 
altar. 2 And the renown of the Olympian games 
looks from afar in the courses of Pelops, 3 where 
swiftness of foot contends and feats of strength in 
daring toils ; 4 but the victor for the rest of his life 
enjoys a sweet repose, as far at least as contests are 
concerned. But, as the good of the present day ever 
comes supreme to every man, 'tis for me now to 
crown him with an equestrian strain in the Aeolic 

1 For the ancient custom of winning a bride in a race, see on Pvth. 
ix. 117. 

2 The altar of Zeus on the hill called Cronium, the summit of 
which was termed the Altis. 

s That is, the games instituted in honor of Pelops have a wide renown. 
Or thus : 'he from afar (i.e. from Hades) sees the glory of the games 
in the race-course of Pelops,' i.e. called after himself. A less natural 
order of the words is, " And the glory of Pelops looks from afar at 
the races of the Olympian games." Compare Nem. iii. 8i. 

4 Viz., wrestling and the pancratium. 



104-116] OLYMPIAN ODE I. 7 

measure ; and well I ween there is no host of the pre- 
sent time whom I can bedeck with the artistic turns 
of poetry, that is at once more acquainted with 
honours and has more rightful influence in his power. 
The god who is your family guardian 1 makes you, my 
Hiero, his special care, and has regard to your pur- 
suits. Unless he should shortly fail, I trust that I 
shall have to celebrate a yet more pleasing feat with 
the swift car, and that I shall find a ready way 
of words to help me, when I come to the far-seen hill 
of Cronos. For me then the muse is keeping in 
reserve her most effective 2 weapon of song. Some 
are great in this, others in that ; but the highest 
point of glory is attained by kings. 3 Look not 
further than that. May it be given to you to walk 
in your grandeur during this present life, and to me 
during mine to be the friend of the victorious, re- 
nowned throughout all the Hellenes for my poetic 
art. 

1 The worship of Neptune was hereditary in the family of Hiero. 

2 Because the anticipated victory, which was actually won in 
01. 78, 1, is described above as "more pleasing" even than this. A 
flight of song is often compared to a bow-shot, rS^evfia, which is here 
KaprepdoTdTOP a\Ka. 

3 "When a king gains a victory, it is more than when an ordinary 
man is equally fortunate. 



ODE II. 

Thero, tyrant of Agrigentum, won a victory with 
the war-car B.C. 476. He belonged to a clan called 
Emmenidae, who had originally migrated from 
Rhodes, and had colonized Grela before finally settling 
at Agrigentum. Thero was a descendant of Poly- 
nices, to which reference is made in yer. 38, where 
the poet attributes the chequered career of Thero to 
the ancient curse inherent in the family of Laius and 
Oedipus. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

Thero is the theme of the song, with his ancestors who 
founded Gela. — Prayers to Zeus for his prosperity. — Even the 
deified heroes and heroines experienced trials on earth. — 
Wealth at once suggests and furnishes the means for contend- 
ing in the games ; but those who misuse it must look for 
punishment in Hades, while the good will live in the isles of 
the blest. — The poet claims for himself the gift of natural 
genius, and declaims against rival poets (probably Bacchylides 
and Simonides) as vainly trying to supplant him in Thero's 
favour. 

Ye hymns that control the tones of the lute, 1 of 
what god, what hero, or what man shall we sing ? 
Pisa indeed belongs to Zeus ; the Olympian festival 

1 The Greeks regarded the music as subordinate to the subject or 
nature of the hymn. — Plat. Eesp. ii., p. 400 A. 



3 ~ 25 ] OLYMPIAN ODE II. 9 

was instituted by Hercules from the first spoils of 
war ; and of Thero we have to speak for his victory 
in the four-horsed car, a just and god-fearing host/ 
the stay of Agrigentum, the flower of his high-born 
sires, and the director of the state. For they after 
many trials of their courage secured a sacred abode 
by a river, and became the eye of Sicily, 2 and a pros- 
perous life attended them, bringing them both wealth 
and glory to crown their innate virtues. And do 
thou, son of Cronus and Rhea, who rulest the blest 
abode on Olympus, and the greatest of all the games 
by the ford of Alpheus, in gracious acknowledgment 
of my strains take into thy care this their father- 
land for their posterity yet to be born. Now of deeds 
which have been done, whether rightly or wrongly, 
not even Time, the Father of all things, can make the 
accomplishment undone ; 3 yet forgetfulness may come 
with prosperous fortune. For by good successes a 
rankling evil is finally overcome and destroyed, when 
the favour of heaven sends happiness to grow and 
spread widely. And the remark applies to the 
deified daughters of Cadmus, who had to bear 
grievous woes, but their heavy grief fell before still 
greater blessings. The long-haired Semele still lives 
among the gods in Olympus, though she perished 

1 Lit. * disinterested in his regard for strangers' (faoov, Schneidewin). 

2 That is, the most picturesque city. — See Pyth. xii. 1. 

3 The trials of the family of the Emmenidae cannot indeed be 
undone, though their bitterness may be alleviated by subsequent 
prosperity. 



10 THE ODES OF PINDAR. 25-45] 

with the crash of the thunderbolt ; and she is ever 
the favourite of Pallas and of Father Zeus especially, 
of her son too, the ivy-bearing god. They say that 
in the sea also with the marine daughters of Nereus 
an immortal life has been assigned to Ino for all time. 
'Tis true indeed that in men there is no fixed term 
for their death, nor know we when we shall pass 
through a quiet day, the child of the sun, 1 with un- 
failing good ; for currents run now this way, now that, 
bearing both delights and trials to men. It is thus 
that the destiny, which holds from their ancestors 
the happy fortunes of this race, 2 together with a 
heaven-sent prosperity has ever brought on in alter- 
nation some sad reverse at another time, ever since 
Laius was slain by the fatal hand of his son when he 
met him on his way, and so fulfilled the oracle that 
had of old been delivered at Pytho. Then the keen- 
eyed Fury, witnessing the deed, slew by mutual 
slaughter his warlike offspring ; but Thersander sur- 
vived though Polynices fell, and lived to be honoured 
in the renewed contest 3 and the fights of war, a 
scion that should keep up the house of the Adrastidae. 

1 That is, a real day of twenty-four hours (as we say) in contrast with 
the general poetical use of rjfiepa for " a period." So in 01. x. 3, 
rain-drops are called "children of the clouds." 

2 Viz., the Emnienidae of Agrigentum, the clan to which the victor 
belonged. 

8 The war of the Epigoni. Thersander was the son of Polynices, 
the son of Oedipus. The poet says, that an ancient curse is inherent 
in a family derived from them, and that hence they are liable to sudden 
reverses of fortune. 



46-66] OLYMPIAN ODE II. 11 

From him they derive the root of their race ; 'tis 
meet therefore that the son of Aenesidamus should 
win from us strains of praise on the lute. For at 
Olympia he himself received a prize, and at Pytho 
and the Isthmus a common victory brought to his 
brother and co-heir crowns for the twelve heats in the 
four-horse chariot race. Success, when one tries a 
contest, relieves us from its discomforts; but it is 
wealth when adorned by virtues that brings the at- 
tainment of our various aims, suggesting to the mind 
a deep and eager pursuit of them, a conspicuous star, 
the truest light to a man. But he who has it is well 
aware of what is in store for him, 1 — that the guilty 
souls of those who die here have to pay the penalty 
in another life, — for there is one beneath the earth 
who judges the crimes committed in this empire of 
Zeus, delivering sentence by a hateful constraint. 
But the good, enjoying ever sunshine as much in the 
nights as in the days, succeed to a less laborious life, 
not stirring the ground by strength of hand nor the 
water of the sea in that blest abode ; 2 but with the 
honoured of the gods all such as took delight in 



1 This seems to indicate notions of the responsibility of wealth. 

2 I read Keivav, as in the common euphemism e/ce?, " in the other 
world." Aesch. Suppl. 230. Soph. Antig. 76. Alaira is used like 
Tpo(pr] in Soph. Oed. Col. 362, for " a place of abode." The accusa- 
tive with irapa is defended by 01. xi., 101. Pyth. iv., 74. The usual 
reading is Keivav, i.e., Kevrjp, which is rendered* " to obtain a slender 
inheritance " (Donaldson). But it does not appear that the words can 
bear this sense : for irapa is very differently used in the phrase irapa 
ireviav, " through poverty," i.e., along of or because of poverty. 



12 THE ODES OF PINDAR. 66-85] 

keeping their plighted faith pass a tearless existence, 
while the bad have to endure toils too horrible to look 
upon. And those who have had the courage to re- 
main stedfast thrice in each life, and to keep their 
souls altogether from wrong, pursue the road of Zeus 
to the castle of Cronus, where o'er the isles of 
the blest ocean breezes 1 blow, and flowers gleam 
with gold, some from the land on glistering trees, 
while others the water feeds; and with bracelets 
of these they entwine their hands and make crowns 
for their heads, by the upright decisions of Rhada- 
manthus, whom Father Cronus has ever at hand as 
his assessor, the spouse of Rhea who sits enthroned 
high above all. Peleus too and Cadmus are 
reckoned among them; 2 Achilles also was brought 
thither by his mother, after she had prevailed over 
the heart of Zeus by her prayers, 3 — that hero who 
threw Hector, the sturdy pillar against whom none 
could contend, and gave Cyenus to death, and the 
Aethiopian son of the morning. 4 I have many swift 
arrows in the quiver under my bended arm, which 
have a voice for the knowing, though to the multi- 

1 An allusion possibly to the trade-winds in the Atlantic islands, 
which may have been entered by early mariners. Compare Propert. 
v. 7, 60, " mulcet ubi Elysias anra beata rosas ;" and Horn. Od. iv.. 
567. The sea-breezes, however, which blow in the evening in hot 
countries are sufficient to explain the expression. 

2 Viz., those who inhabit the isles of the blest. 

3 See II. i. 524, which embodies a tradition similar to that which 
Pindar has here borrowed from ancient and long-lost epics. 

i Memnon. 



85-100] OLYMPIAN ODE IT. 13 

tude they require interpreters. 1 That man is a 
true poet who knows much by natural genius ; while 
those who have learnt, strong in general talk, are 
but as crows that vainly chatter against the divine 
bird of Zeus. Direct now your bow at the mark ; 
come, my soul, whom are we now to hit, discharging 
our shafts of praise again from a friendly mind ? At 
Agrigentum will I aim, and utter a declaration on oath 
in sincerity of heart, that no city for the last hun- 
dred years has given birth 2 to a man who is a greater 
benefactor in his disposition to his friends and more 
liberal in hand than Thero. But a feeling of dislike 
comes over praise ; not indeed by right attending it, 
but vain prattle in senseless men is wont to bring 
obscurity 3 on the noble deeds of the good. As sand 
escapes from being counted, so who shall plainly say 
how many joys that man has caused to others ? 

1 He alludes to what he is going on to say, or rather to hint at, that 
his rivals Bacchylides and Simonides are inferior poets, — men of no 
genins, but only of acquired art. 

2 The Greek may also mean, " that no city within the next hundred 
years will give birth," etc. 

3 That is, instead of making them illustrious, The meaning of this 
passage is very obscure, as the text stands. I cannot accept Dr. 
Donaldson's interpretation, and have translated above a conjecture of 
my own, aWa fiapycou vn avtip&v to kaXayrjaai <pi\e? Kpvcpov de/uev eV 
ia\ccp KaXols epyois. The allusion is obviously to his rival poets. The 
sense is, that praise need not cause any feeling of satiety or dislike 
unless it is uttered by empty pretenders, who only do one discredit. 
The vulgate I cannot even construe at all, to AaAayrjcrai OeXwv Kpv4>ov 
re defiev ktA. 



14 



ODE III. 

To the same Thero, and in honour of the same 
victory, as in the preceding Ode. This was sung at 
a feast held at Agrigentum called Theoxenia, which 
had some analogy to the supplicatio or lectisternia of 
the Romans, and was a kind of ideal entertainment 
given to the gods at the cost of some wealthy noble 
or citizen. The clan of the Emmenidae were devoted 
to the cultus of the Doric Dioscuri, 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

The poet hopes that his ode will be welcome to the Dioscuri, 
the patron-gods of Agrigentum : for the occasion of Thero's 
victory demands from him a song. — The legend of Hercules 
bringing the olive-tree from the sources of the Danube to 
plant it on the bare plain of Elis. — The mention of him 
for that reason in connexion with the Dioscuri. — The success 
of Thero attributed to his piety and liberality in the worship 
of those gods. 

" I flatter myself I shall please the hospitable 
Tyndaridae and the fair-haired Helen, in paying to 
the far-famed Agrigentum a tribute of praise, by 
building up a hymn to the Olympic victory of 
Thero." — No sooner had I said this, than the Muse 
appeared at my side, just as I had invented a novel 



5 " 2 °] OLYMPIAN ODE III. 15 

method of adapting to the Dorian beat the vocal 
strains of the merry comus-song; for indeed the 
crowns fastened on his hair exact from me this di- 
vinely-appointed debt, to combine in a fitting manner 
for the son of Aenesidamus the variously-toned lyre 
with the loud notes of flutes and the setting of the 
words. Pisa, too, bids me raise my voice, since from 
it come to men strains allotted them by the god, when 
on the hair of some victor, and high above his brows, 
the crown of silvery olive has been placed by the im- 
partial umpire of the games, the Aetolian man, in 
carrying out the former behests of Hercules. 'Twas 
from the shady sources of the Danube that of yore 
the son of Amphitryon brought the tree, to become a 
most honourable memento of prizes won at Olympia, 
after persuading the nations of the far north, the 
worshippers of Apollo, by his words. 1 In friendly 
feeling he requested for the much-frequented racing- 
ground of Zeus a plant that should afford a shade for 
all men in common to enjoy, and which should be used 
as a crown for deeds of valour. For by this time, 2 
the altars having been consecrated to his father, the 
full moon in the middle of the month had lighted irp 

1 The olive was regarded as so sacred a plant, that to have stolen, or 
bought, or forcibly taken it away, would have been a reproach. 
SeeOed. Col. 693 seqq. For the "Hyperboreans," see note on 
01. viii. 47. 

2 The sense is, "for Hercules wished to avail himself of the lucky 
season of the full moon to institute in all its completeness the festival 
of the Olympian games, which were to recur every fifth, i.e., just after 
each fully- completed period of four years." 



16 THE ODES OF PINDAR. 20-36] 

in the east the full eye of Evening with the gilded 
car, and he had instituted the just decision of the 
great games, and at the same time the quinquennial 
contest, by the sacred steeps of Alpheus. But that 
wild spot grew no fair trees in the glens of Pelops 
descended from Cronus ; and destitute of them it 
seemed to him that the enclosure was at the mercy of 
the keen rays of the sun. Then it was that his mind 
conceived the idea of sending him to the land of the 
Danube, where erst the horse-driving daughter of 
Latona had received him on returning from the 
ridges and crooked dells of Arcadia ; when through 
the messages of Eurystheus a stern command from 
his father had dispatched him to bring away the 
golden-horned doe, which once the maid Taygeta had 
dedicated to the Orthosian Artemis in gratitude for 
her safety, and inscribed it as sacred. In pursuit of 
it he had seen that land also that lay behind 1 the 
blast of cold Boreas. There he had stood and ad- 
mired the trees. Of these a sweet longing now pos- 
sessed him, that he might plant them round the end 
of the race-course of twelve heats for horses. And 
so he now comes with good- will to this festival in 
company with the godlike twin-sons of the deep- 
girdled Latona ; for to them he committed the trust, 
when he ascended to heaven, to preside at the spec- 

1 The " Hyperborean" people were supposed (in the absence of all 
definite knowledge of geography) to lie beyond the cold blasts from the 
Rhiphean mountains, and so to enjoy a perpetually mild temperature. 



27-45] OLYMPIAN ODE III. 17 

tacle in the contest of prowess with men, and the 
rapid driving of the nimble car. At all events 1 , my 
mind prompts me to say, that glory has come to the 
Emmenidae and to Thero by the gift of the well- 
mounted Tyndaridae, because that family worships 
them with more hospitable entertainments 2 than any 
others among mortal men, observing with religious 
mind the rites of the blessed gods. Now if water is 
the best of elements, and gold is held in the greatest 
reverence of all possessions, now at least Thero has 
reached the furthest limit by his deeds of valour, and 
has touched the pillars of Hercules 3 in a long voyage 
from his home. "What lies beyond that is inacces- 
sible to the learned alike and the unlearned. I will 
not go in quest of it ; I should be disappointed 4 if 
I did. 

1 Whether Hercules (who was also the god of luck) he present at 
this festival or not, still, etc. 

2 That is, more frequently exhibits 0eo|ez>za in their name. 

3 A proverb to express the attainment of all that man can hope to 
realize. Dr. Donaldson renders dtKoBev " "by his own innate virtues,'* 
as in Nem. iii. 31 ; vii. 32. 

4 Or, " vain and empty-minded, ,s 



18 [1-9 



ODE IV. 

Psatjmis of Camartna gained a victory with the 
mule-car, B.C. 452. This short ode was composed 
for the comus, or procession of friends who escorted 
the victor to the altar of Zeus on the hill called 
Cronium. 

SUMMAEY OF THE AEGUMENT. 

Invocation of Zeus to receive favourably the ode and the 
victor, and a prayer for his future success. — Praise of Psaumis 
for his liberality and patriotism. — Though not very young, he 
has shown the strength and prowess of youth. — Anecdote of 
a similar exploit in one of the Argonauts. 

Supreme wielder of the untiring thunderbolt ! as 
thy season, Zeus, in its revolving cycle has sent 
me with a song, accompanied by the varied tones of 
the lute, to bear testimony to this most exalted of 
contests ; — and when friends are successful, the good 1 
at once show delight at the pleasing news ; — do thou, 
son of Cronus, who hast Etna in thy keeping, the 
wind-swept mountain-load laid upon fierce Typhoeus' 
hundred heads, receive this procession to escort one 
who has gained a victory at Olympia by favour of 

1 Opposed to the <j>dov€po\ y those who are jealous of others' good 
fortune. 



10-28] OLYMPIAN ODE IV. 19 

the Graces, 1 — a lasting light of far-felt deeds of 
valour. For it hath, come 2 to thee on account of a 
victory of Psaumis in the mule-chariot, who with his 
head crowned with the olive of Pisa is anxious to 
raise up glory for Camarina. May heaven be pro- 
pitious to our prayers for him in future ! For I 
praise him 3 for his ready zeal in the breeding of 
horses, and for taking pleasure in general hospitality, 
and also for pursuing the path of peace in love for 
his city with honest 4 intentions. I will not tinge my 
tale with falsehood; 5 experience is the test of mor- 
tals ; it was this that delivered the son of Clymenus 
from the slight put upon him by the women of 
Lemnos. 6 For when victor in the race under brazen 
armour, he said to Hypsipyle as he went for his 
crown, "You see what I am in speed ; my hands 7 and 
my heart will match it. There grow oft-times even 
on young men grey hairs contrary to the natural law 8 
of their age." 

1 See xiv., 5-7. 

2 That is, the procession (/cw/zos) has come to the altar of Zeus on 
the hill called the Cronium at Olympia. 

3 Viz., though others hlame him for extravagance. 

4 KaOapa yvdfiq, probably refers to his resolve to keep clear of rival 
factions. ■ 

5 I will not say that the man is young, when in truth he is verging 
on old age. See the next ode, ver. 22. 

6 Erginus, an Argonaut, was taunted with being elderly by the Queen 
of the Lemnians, before whom he had won the prize in a contest of 
speed. 

7 The hands and the feet were believed to show the first symptoms 
of old age : Hesiod, Opp. 114. 

8 Lit. " even beside the time of life likely for them." 



20 



ODE V. 

To the same Psaumis, and to commemorate the 
same victory: but this ode was sung at Camarina, 
which was then a new colony, (the old town haying 
been destroyed by Grelo,) and had not yet had the 
honour of a victory at the great games. The ode 
appears to have been sung at the temple cf Pallas 
TToXta? or 7to\lovxo<;, since she is specially addressed 
in ver. 10, in association with the nymph Camarina 
and Zeus the Preserver. 

SUMMAEY OF THE AKGUMENT. 

The honour paid by the victor to the presiding nymph of 
the new city. — Settlement of the colony on the banks of a 
river and lake, and the building of wooden tenements. — De- 
fence of Psaumis from the charge of extravagance. — Prayers 
to Zeus for his future success. 

This sweet reward of exalted deeds of valour and 
of crowns won at Olympia with patient-footed mules, 
receive, daughter of Ocean, 1 with gladsome heart, 
and likewise this gift of Psaumis. 2 For he, to ag- 

1 The Nymph. Camarina, supposed to preside over the town of the 
same name. 

2 From v. 8 inf. it seems that the victor dedicated his crown at the 
shrine of the nymph. 



4 ~ 19 ] OLYMPIAN ODE V. 21 

grandise thy city, Camarina, now rearing a new 
people, lias paid tribute at six double altars by most 
solemn feasts of the gods with sacrifices of oxen and 
contests of games kept up for five days, in horse 
and mule races, and the single riding-horse. To 
thee the victor has consecrated his proud reward, 
and has made known by the voice of the herald his 
father Acron and this his newly- founded city. And 
returning from the lovely station of Oenomaus and 
Pelops, he celebrates in song thy sacred grove, 
guardian goddess of our city, Pallas, the river 
Whanis, and the lake of our country, the sacred 
channels 1 too, by which the Hipparis gives water to 
the people, and is putting together 2 with all speed a 
high-storied group of immoveable houses, bringing 
from its difficulties into cheering hope the body of 
these citizens. In all cases in the pursuit of valorous 
deeds toil and expense have to contend with the un- 
certainty that covers success ; but when men have 
happily won it, 3 even their own townspeople think 
them clever. Zeus, guardian god that sittest high on 
the clouds and dwellest on the Cronian hill, and 
holdest in regard the broad- flowing Alpheus and 
Ida's holy grot, a suppliant to thee I come, uttering 

1 Perhaps artificial, for conveying water to the town. 

2 The art of carpentry (koXAS.) is here attributed to a river, probably 
because it conveyed the wood, of which the common houses in Greek 
cities appear to have usually been made. 

3 I read eu 5e rvxopres for the vulg. ev 5e %x ovT ^' See Nem. i. 10, 
"or* Wiv eurux*? irav$o£ias &Kpov. 



22 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [19-24 

loud tones on Lydian flutes, to ask of thee to grace 
this city with a renowned race of brave people ; that 
you too, Olympic victor, delighting in your Nep- 
tunian 1 steeds may carry on a contented old age to 
the end, with your sons standing by. If any man 
makes free use 2 of reasonable wealth, being rich 
enough to afford it and adding thereto the credit for 
hospitality, let him not seek to become a god. 3 

1 Poseidon was said to have sent up the horse out of the earth for 
the use of man. 

2 Lit. " waters," i.e.y does not allow to dry up, and become barren 
and useless. 

3 That is, he has all that can make a man happy. 



23 



ODE VI. 

This beautiful ode commemorates the victory of 
Agesias of Syracuse with, the mule-car, B.C. 468. It 
was sung by a chorus of citizens at Stymphalus in 
Arcadia, of which town Agesias possessed the citi- 
zenship, as well as of Syracuse. In the latter place 
he appears to have had enemies, to whose jealousy 
allusion is made in v. 7, 74, and 103. The victor 
was a member of a clan of the Iamidae, and held the 
dignified office of treasurer to the altar at Olympia. 
The Iamidae were a priestly family who exercised 
their functions both in Arcadia and at Olympia; 
one of the clan had also accompanied Archias in 
leading a colony from Corinth to Syracuse (ver. 6.) 

SUMMARY OF THE AKGUMENT. 

The commencement of the ode must be splendid, like the 
front of a new house, to set forth the victor's titles. — Agesias 
enjoys high repute, like Amphiaraus of old, both as a prophet 
and a warrior. — Legend of the preternatural birth of Iamus 
from Evadne by Apollo. — Ambition of the god-like youth to 
become the leader of a colony. — The present victory is referred 
to the cultus of the Arcadian Hermes by the victor's family. — 
Mythical relation between Thebes and Stymphalus. — Exhor- 
tation to Aeneas, the poet's messenger, to instruct the chorus 
well. — Good wishes for Hiero and the victor, who is con- 
gratulated on the advantage of having two homes. 



24 THE ODES OF PINDAR. t 1 " 15 

We will set gilt pillars under the well-propor- 
tioned front of our house in constructing our hymn, 
as when we build a stately mansion. 1 For in com- 
mencing the work we ought to make the fa9ade con- 
spicuous from afar. Now if a man be an Olympic 
victor, and treasurer to the prophetic altar of 
Zeus at Pisa, and a joint-founder of the renowned 
Syracuse; such an one cannot fail to be the 
theme of song, if his lot has fallen among 
citizens that have no jealousy against much- 
coveted strains. For let the son of Sostratus know 
that he has his fortunate foot in this sandal. 2 Deeds 
of valour unattended with risk are held in no regard 
either among men or in hollow ships ; whereas many 
speak of it, if a noble action has been done with 
trouble. For you, Agesias, the same praise is in 
store, which Adrastus of old so justly uttered in elo- 
quent language 3 in reference to Amphiaraus the 
seer, the son of Oecleus ; when he and his white 
steeds had been swallowed by the earth. For 
soon after, when the dead on seven pyres had been 

1 The poet compares the magnificent honours and titles of the victor* 
as set forth in the beginning (v. 4-6), to the rich and elaborate street- 
front of a palace. 

2 That is, that he has enemies among the citizens who are jealous of 
him. This is the sense to which the context seems to point. But 
others explain the phrase differently; "Let him know that he is as 
fortunate a man as I have described him." Dr. Donaldson thinks it 
alludes to the victor having driven his own car. 

3 awb yXccco-as, i.e. in an elaborate funeral oration (see Eurip. Suppl. 
857, seq.). Dr. Donaldson renders it "openly," referring to Pyth. iii. 
2, a passage which I understand somewhat diiferently. 



15-32[ OLYMPIAN ODE VI. 25 

consumed, the son of Talaus delivered at Thebes 
a sentiment to this effect : "I miss the eye of 
my host, one who was both a good seer and a 
good fighter with the spear." And we may say 
the same 1 of the Syracusan man who is lord 
of this Comus. Without being contentious in a 
bad cause, or naturally fond of strife, this at least I 
will plainly attest in his favour even with a solemn 
oath; and the sweet- voiced Muses will allow it. 
Come, Phintis, yoke for me now with all speed your 
sturdy mules, that we may set our car on the clear 
high-road, and that I may come even to the pedi- 
gree 2 of these men. For they 3 know well, after their 
other journeys, how to lead the way in this, now that 
they have received crowns at Olympia. We must 
therefore throw open to them the portals of song ; for 
to Pitane by the stream of Eurotas I have this day 
to go betimes. She then, by union with Poseidon, 
son of Cronus, is said to have given birth to a girl 
with clustering auburn locks, Evadne. But her maiden 
travail she concealed by the folds of her dress ; and 
at the proper month for her delivery she sent her 

1 For be is a fiduris, as ra/xtas /ta^y (v. 5), and a valiant man, either 
as a soldier by profession, or as a winner in the games. 

2 He describes under the figure of a poetic journey, made with the 
same driver and mules that won the Olympic victory, the attempt to 
trace far back the legend of the birth of lamus, the founder of the 
clan Iamidce. 

3 Viz. the mules. They are already versed, says the poet, in the 
ways of victory, and therefore they will go on this road, which is the 
road of praise of the victor's ancestors. 



26 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [32-48 

handmaids and bade them give the infant to the 
hero son of Elatus to bring up. For at that time 
he was king of an Arcadian people at Phaesane, and 
had obtained by lot the Alpheus to dwell upon. 
There brought up she tasted from Apollo the first 
sweets of love. But Aepytus 1 was not to be de- 
ceived by her the whole time in her attempt to 
conceal the pregnancy by the god ; but off he went to 
Delphi, suppressing in his mind by a painful effort 
a vexation too great for utterance, to consult the 
god about this intolerable woe. Meanwhile the girl 
had laid aside her girdle of scarlet threads and 
her silver pitcher, and under the shelter of a 
gloomy thicket was taken in labour with a heavenly- 
minded 2 boy. By her side the god of the 
golden locks at once stationed the kindly en- 
couraging goddess of childbirth and the Fates ; and 
from the womb by a happy travail 3 came Iamus at 
once to the light. Him in her anguish of mind she 
left on the ground ; but two glaring-eyed snakes by 
the will of the gods tended and fed him with the 
harmless venom of bees. But when the king re- 
turned from his drive to the rocky Delphi, he asked 

1 The sense is, that though Pitane concealed her pregnancy up to the 
time of her delivery, Evadne, her daughter, was less successful in de- 
ceiving the son of Elatus, who discovered the mishap, and consulted 
the oracle ahout it. 

2 That is, endowed by Apollo with the prophetic gift. 

3 The phrase ipar^ o?5is is hard to render. Perhaps the poet meant 
* a travail resulting from an amour.' The ancients thought that divine 
births were rapid and easy (see Nem. i. 35. Plautus, Amphitryo, 879. 



48-63] OLYMPIAN ODE VI. 27 

all in the house about the child that Evadne had 
given birth to ; for he said that he was born of 
Phoebus as his sire, and was destined to be a seer, 
surpassing all mortals in skill, to the people of the 
country, and that his descendants should never fail. 
Thus he informed them ; but they on their parts pro- 
tested that they had neither heard of nor seen the 
child, though he had been born five days. And in 
truth he had been hidden by her in a reed-bed and 
an impenetrable brake, all glistering in his tender 
body with the pansy's yellow and purple gleam. 
And therefore did his mother prophetically say of 
him that he should be called for all time by this 
immortal name. 1 But when he had attained the 
ripeness of golden- crowned youth, he went down 
(the bank), and standing in the middle stream of 
Alpheus he called upon the widely-ruling Poseidon 
his grandsire, and the bow-bearing guardian of 
Delos the divine, craving for himself the honour 
of rearing some people, 2 in the night time under 
the canopy of the sky. And the infallible voice of 
his father answered, and asked where he was. 3 
"Rise, my son, come this way to a spot that shall 
be common to all, following my direction/' Then 



1 Viz. "lafxos from "top. 

2 That is, of becoming a colonist. One of the clan had accom- 
panied Archias in after-times from Corinth to found Syracuse. 

3 Dr. Donaldson's explanation of /-ieTaAAa<rej/, " addressed him," seems 
yery forced. As the invocation was in the dark, so the question is not 
altogether unnatural or inappropriate even in a god. 



28 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [64-79 

came they to the steep rock of lofty Cronium, where 
the god gave him a two-fold treasure of prophecy ; 
that for the time then being he should listen to 
his voice that knew no deceit ; but when the bold- 
scheming Heracles should have come, the sacred 
scion of the Alcidae, and should have founded in 
honour of his sire a festival for the greatest numbers 
of people, and contests that should be the standard 
rule in all Hellas, 1 — then he bade him establish a 
second oracle on the very summit of the altar of Zeus, 
that from thenceforth the family of the Iamidae might 
be far-famed among the Hellenes. Prosperity attended 
them ; and by paying due regard to deeds of valour 
they have entered upon the way to renown. Cir- 
cumstances bring out every man ; but disparagement 
on the part of others who are envious hangs ever 
ready to fall upon those on whom, when at any time 
they drive first round the course in the twelfth heat, 
the maiden Grace sheds a beauty that wins applause. 2 
Now if it be true that your ancestors, my Agesias, 
on the mother's side, 3 dwelling by the confines of 
Cyllene, paid to the herald of the gods Hermes their 
frequent tributes of supplicatory sacrifices with duti- 
ful hearts, — that Hermes, who has in his keeping 

1 Lit. "the greatest rule (or institution) of contests," viz., because 
the Olympia stood first in celebrity. 

2 The Grace (Xdpis) is the giver both of victory and of personal 
beauty. The epithet (altioia) refers to the flushed cheek and modest 
mien of the youthful winner (see xiv. 7, also viii. 19, and Nem. iii. 19. 

4 Viz. Aepytus and the Arcadians (sup, v. 33). 



79-93] OLYMPIAN ODE VI. 29 

the contests and the luck in games, and is the patron- 
god of Arcadia the brave, — - then surely it was he 
who with his loudly-thundering sire has brought to 
pass this success of yours, son of Sostratus. I 
have a feeling on my tongue as of a shrill-sounding 
whetstone, 1 — a feeling which comes over me as with 
gentle breezy airs. An Arcadian nymph, the flowery 
Metopa, was my maternal ancestress ; for she gave 
birth to Theba the driver of steeds, whose delightful 
water I will drink in weaving this varied hymn for 
men skilled in the spear. 2 Stir up now your company, 
Aeneas, first to celebrate in song the maiden Hera, 
next, to make up their minds whether we are clear 
of that long-standing reproach expressed in true 
words, Boeotians are but sicine? For you are a cor- 
rect reporter, writing- staff of the fair-haired Muses, 
sweet moderator of loudly-uttered songs. And tell 
them to make special mention both of Syracuse and 
Ortygia, which Hiero rules with righteous sceptre, 



1 The poet means, that he feels an incitement to speak out, on the 
score of a national relationship between himself and the victor. 

2 See above, p. 17. The drinking of the Theban water, viz. of 
Dirce, was supposed to inspire the poet on the theme of a kindred 
earth. See Isthm. v. 74, iriaco o-(p€ AipKas vSccp. 

s The sense is, exhort your chorus to learn this ode, so as to sing it 
effectively, and so release the author of it from an old reproach that is 
often but too true, that the Boeotians are a stupid race. So Hor. Epist. 
ii. 1, 244, Boeotum crasso jurares aere natum. It may fairly be con- 
cluded from what follows that Pindar's odes were not committed to 
writing, but orally taught to a professional trainer, who in turn in- 
structed his chorus. The comparison with a writing staff is quite 
pointless, if Aeneas carried with him a written ode. The seytale was 
only employed for short and confidential written communications. 



30 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [94-105 

pursuing truthful counsels, and worships Demeter 
with, the ruddy foot, the festival of her daughter with 
the white steeds, and the majesty of Aetnean Zeus. 
Nor is he unknown to the sweet utterances of the 
dancing- song and the lute. May coming time not 
make a wreck of his prosperity ! And may he receive 
with festive welcome this comus to Agesias, as it comes 
from one home to another, 1 even from the walls of 
Stymphalus, leaving the metropolis of Arcadia rich 
in flocks. "lis well in a stormy night that two 
anchors should be let fall from the bows of a ship. 2 
May heaven in its love grant a glorious career of 
both peoples. And do thou, lord and ruler of the 
sea, give (my friend) a straight voyage out of 
trouble's way, 3 husband of Amphitrite with the 
golden distaff; and make yet more pleasing than 
ever the flower of my song. 

1 The victor resided in Syracuse, but was enrolled as a citizen of 
Stymphalus in Arcadia. 

2 This was done to prevent the ship from swinging round while 
moored to the land from the stern. See Demosth. p. 1296. Dr. 
Donaldson's note is hardly correct. The stern was tied from the shore 
by a rope called Trpv/jLvfjaiou. 

3 Poseidon is invoked, first as an ancestor of the Iamidae, next, as 
able to give a fair voyage, and so enabling the victor to sail safely 
through life. There may, however, be an allusion to a voyage of 
Aeneas from Thebes to Stymphalus or even to Sicily. 



31 



ODE VII. 

Diagoras of Rhodes was victor in a boxing- match 
B.C. 464. He belonged to the clan of the Eratidae, 
descendants of a Doric colony which had been led by 
Heraclidae of the family of Tlepolemus, and had 
founded a tripolis, or confederacy of three cities in 
that island, Cameirus, Lindus, and Ialysus, in the 
last of which the Eratidae held rule. It was at a 
banquet given by them that this ode appears to have 
been sung. 

SUMMAEY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

The poet's offering to the Eratidae. — Their descent from 
Tlepolemus, and the story of his disaster and emigration to 
Rhodes. — Ancient legends respecting Rhodes as the Sun- 
island and the birth-place of Pallas, the Heliadae and their 
sacrifices. — Skill of the ancient Rhodians in handicraft. — Off- 
spring of the nymph Rhodos and the Sun. — Worship of Tle- 
polemus as a hero. — Prayer for the future successes and pros- 
perity of Diagoras. 

As when a man takes and gives out of his wealthy 
hand a drinking-cup, frothing within with the dew 
of the grape, presenting it to a youthful son-in-law 
on his passing from one house into another, — a cup 
all golden, the most prized of his possessions, both in 



32 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [ 5 " 2 ° 

compliment to the banquet and to do honour to his 
relative, and while he gives it, makes him envied by 
the assembled friends for the union of loving 
hearts ; so I now, in sending liquid nectar, the 
gift of the Muses and the sweet fruit of my mind, 
to men who have carried off prizes from the contest, 
compliment them as victors at Olympia and Pytho. 
Happy is he who possesses a good report ; but dif- 
ferent people at different times l are favourably re- 
garded by the Grace that makes life to thrive, with 
the accompaniment of the sweet- voiced lute and the 
instruments of many-toned pipes. Thus have I 
now landed here with Diagoras to sing to the 
notes of both the queen of the sea, Rhodos, child of 
Aphrodite and bride of the sun, that I may pay the 
meed of praise for his skill in boxing to a fair-fight- 
ing man of giant stature, who has won himself a 
crown by the Alpheus and also at Castaly, as well as 
to his father Demegetus, the friend of justice, residents 
in the island of the three cities with an Argive war- 
rior-host, near the j fitting headland of spacious Asia. 2 
I shall do my best to give a true account throughout, 
by reporting the facts, of a legend that concerns the 

1 The sentiment may be general, and a kind of lyric common-place, 
or it may refer to the various fortunes of the Rhodian clan of the 
Eratida3,towhom the victor belonged. The Grace is said " favourably to 
regard with the harp and the flute" those to whom she assigns the 
honour of a comus-song. 

2 The poet compares the promontory of Caria lying off Rhodes, to 
the prow or beak {e^oKov) of a ship. 'Apyela refers to the colony hav- 
ing come from Epidaurus. 



20-39] OLYMPIAN ODE VII. 33 

victor and his family alike, 1 originally descendants 
from Tlepolemus, the widely-ruling race of Hercules. 
For on the one side, from their sire, they profess to 
be sprung from Zeus, while on the other they are 
Amyntorids from the mother Astydamea. Now on 
the minds of men ever hang mistakes without count ; 
and this is a difficult thing to discover, what now and 
also in the end is best for to happen to a man. So 
erst the colonist of this land in a fit of rage did 
smite with a cudgel of tough olive and slay the 
bastard brother of Alcmena at Tiryns, Licymnius, 
when he had come forth from the house of Midea. 
So it was that exasperations of mind led astray even 
a prudent man. So he went to consult the oracle of 
Apollo. To him then the god of the golden locks 
declared from the fragrant adytum of his shrine, to 
sail straight from Lerna's strand to a sea-girt pasture- 
land, where erst the mighty king of the gods had poured 
golden snow-flakes on a city, when by the arts of He- 
phaestus and by his bronze-wrought axe Athena had 
sprung up on the top of her sire's head, and raised the 
war-crywith prolonged shout ; and the heaven shuddered 
at her and Mother Earth. 2, Then it was 3 that the power 

1 £wbs \6yos seems to mean a tale that has a common interest both 
for the victor and for the clan of Eratidae, who called themselves true 
Heraclids. 

2 The whole passage in italics must be taken for the words of the 
oracle. The question was, what country was described in these am- 
biguous terms ? The poet goes on to show that Ehodes was meant. 

3 That is, at the time alluded to by the oracle, the birth of Athene, 
an event long antecedent to the expedition of Tlepolemus. 



34 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [40-51 

that gives light to mortals, the son of Hyperion, gave 
special commands to his dear sons 1 to be aware 
of the duty that was coming on them, that they 
should be the first to found for the goddess an 
altar on a conspicuous height, and by instituting a 
solemn sacrifice thereon should gladden the mind 
of father Zeus and his daughter with the sounding 
spear. Now it is that respectful obedience which is 
born of forethought 2 that imparts merit and success 
to men. But there succeeds in an incomprehensible 
way a cloud of forgetfulness, and causes the true way 
of doing things to take the wrong road and pass 
away from the memory. 3 For in this case too they 
went up without taking the kindling of blazing* fire ; 4 
and so they founded a sacred inclosure in the acro- 
polis with rites performed without burnt offerings. 
(And this was their reward :) for them the god 
brought a yellow cloud and rained on them much 
gold, 5 while the fierce-eyed goddess herself gave 
them to excel mortals in all art by their surpassing 



1 The Heliadae, a clan, or family, in all probability, of fire-worship- 
pers. 

2 The meaning is, that the Heliadae obeyed, but thoughtlessly or only 
partially, because they forgot the efnrvpa which were to form a special 
part of the worship. For the perpetual presence of the goddess had 
been promised to that nation which should first offer to her burnt 
sacrifices. 

3 The expression is derived from chariot-races. 

4 This was the more culpable in a family devoted to sun-worship, 
perhaps. 

6 koX arpiv Oeaireaiov irkovrov KaTe%eve Kpovlcw, viz., "Potiiois 
II. ii. 670. 



51-65] OLYMPIAN ODE VII. 35 

skill in handicraft. And the way-sides bore works 
of art sculptured in the likeness of living animals 
and creeping things ; and great was their renown. 
For in a skilled artist 1 his craft appears even greater 
when it is without fraud. Now the ancient tradi- 
tions of men declare, that when Zeus and the other 
immortals were allotting themselves shares of the 
earth, Rhodes was not as yet visible in the open 
sea, but that island was hidden in the briny depths. 2 
And as the Sun chanced to be absent, no one had 
pointed out a share for him ; and so, it seems, they 
had left him without an allotment of the land, 
holy god that he was. 3 And when he spoke about 
it, Zeus was ready to hold the balloting again ; 
but he would not hear of it, for he said that 
with his own eyes he could see a land, one that 
should supply much food for man and be kindly 
for flocks, growing up from the bottom within 
the hoary sea. So he bade forthwith Lachesis 4 
with the golden fillet to hold up her outstretched 



1 Dr. Donaldson renders SaeV™ * to a person who lias learned ' or 
experienced the fairness and reality of the art. For the Telchines 
were regarded as magicians or sorcerers ; they had introduced sculpture 
into Rhodes before the Heliadae. 

2 This very curious story bears the impress of truth, and is deserving 
of all consideration. Human traditions of a very definite nature must 
have long preceded the art of writing. Delos, and the lately raised 
island oft* Santorin (Thera), are analogous cases of elevation, and may 
even belong to the same volcanic area. 

3 The epithet refers to the rites of fire-worship and the mystical 
notions about that element. 

4 Here she is the goddess who presides over \dxv or allotments. 



36 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [65-81 

hands, and to utter without mental reserve 1 a solemn 
oath by the gods, but to promise, with the assent 
of the son of Cronus, that when sent up into the 
bright air it should hereafter be a special gift to 
himself. And the sum of his words in the end fell 
out true : there sprang up from the watery main an 
island, and it is held by him who is the father and 
author of keen rays, the lord of fire-breathing steeds. 
There on a time by an amour with Rhodos he begat 
seven sons who inherited from him 2 the wisest minds 
that had ever been known in the times of former 
heroes. One of the sons begat Cameirus, Ialysus, 
who was the eldest, and Lindus; and they held 
apart from each other their allotted cities, having 
divided into three portions their father's land, and 
they are still called their seats. 3 There a sweet recom- 
pense for his sad mishap is instituted for Tlepolemus 
as the colonist of a Tirynthian host, as if to a god, — 
the bringing up of sheep for a savoury burnt-offering 
on the altar, and the awarding of prizes at games. 4 
With garlands of victory from these Diagoras twice 
crowned his brows, besides four successes at famous 



1 Lit. "not to speak deceitfully." 

2 The poet seems to represent the offspring of the sun-god, — the 
" father of keen rays,"— as possessed of keen and bright intellects be- 
yond ordinary mortals. (See Diodor. Sic. lib. v. ch. 55.) 

3 The town of Cameirus is called the settlement of Cameirus, etc. 
The meaning is, " their cities are called after them ;" but the dative 
<r<piv is not literally susceptible of this sense. Dissen renders it, in 
eorum honorem. 

4 That is, he is honoured in Rhodes with hero-worship. 



81-95] OLYMPIAN ODE VII. 37 

Isthmus, two at Nemea, and two at rocky Athens. On 
the bronze shield too at Argos his name is read, and 
also at the contests in Arcadia and at Thebes, and the 
annual games in Boeotia, and at Pellene ; at Aegina 
too (he is recorded) as a conqueror six times; nor 
does the stone pillar at Megara give any other ac- 
count. But do thou, Zeus, who holdest sway on 
the mountain-ridges of Atabyrius, 1 do honour to this 
customary tribute of a song to a victor at Olympia, 
a man who has won the meed of valour with the 
fist. Grant him the happiness to be held in respect 
both by citizens and by strangers ; for he pursues the 
straightforward path of hatred to insolence, having 
well learnt the lessons that right feelings inherited 
from his noble ancestors have imprinted on his 
heart. 2 Suffer not to fall into obscurity one of the 
same clan descended from Callianax. 3 Be assured 
that with the victories of the Eratidae the whole 
city too has rejoicings. But at one and the same 
point of time different breezes go rapidly in different 
directions. 4 



1 A hill in Rhodes. 

2 xp^ w i s etymologically connected with ypdcpco, x a P ( *' (T0 ' (a i xP™- V( *i 
Xpavco. The root implies roughening up, or leaving a mark from 
scratching. 

3 This man would seem to have been one of the Eratidae, distin- 
guished for his devotion or liberality in the cultus of Zeus. 

* This is thought to allude to certain troubles that were impending 
over the aristocratic family of the Eratidae through Athenian influence. 



38 



ODE VIII. 

Alcimedon of Aegina gained the prize in the 
wrestling-match with boys, B.C. 460, his brother 
Timosthenes having also been successful at Nemea. 
Like the fourth ode, this was sung in the procession 
to the altar of Zeus at the attis on the Cronian hill. 

SUMMAEY OF THE AKGUMENT. 

Invocation of Olympia as the seat of a truthful oracle, 
and the dedication to it of the ode. — Timosthenes and his 
brother owe their respective victories to the favour of their 
family-god, Zeus. — Aegina and its ruler and hero Aeacus are 
praised for justice and valour. — Legend about the building of 
the walls of Troy. — Praise of Melesias the trainer, for his suc- 
cesses with many pupils. — The pleasure which some members 
of the victor's clan, the Blepsiadae, will have even in Hades, 
at the news of Alcimedon's gaining the prize. 

Parent of golden-crowned contests, Olympia, 
mistress of truth ; — where men that practise the 
craft of seers divining by burnt- offerings try to 
find out from Zeus, the wielder of the white light- 
ning, whether he has aught to say about those 
mortals who have conceived in their mind the desire 
to achieve great glory and to have rest from their 
toils ; — and it is won as a return for their devo- 
tion by the prayers of men ; — do thou, I say, tree- 



9 " 25 ] OLYMPIAN ODE VIII. 39 

clad course of Pisa by the Alpheus, receive this 
comus and this carrying of the crown in the pro- 
cession. Great is his glory at all times, whom this 
glistering gift of thine attends. Still, different 
blessings come to different people, 1 and there are 
many roads to success by the favour of the gods. 
Now you, Timosthenes, and your brother have been 
assigned by the destiny of your birth to Zeus as 
your family god; 2 he it was who made you con- 
spicuous at ISTemea, and Alcimedon an Olympian 
victor by the hill of Cronus. And handsome he 
was to look upon ; nor did he belie by his deeds his 
comely form, but as a conqueror in wrestling he 
proclaimed aloud that Aegina with the long oar was 
his native land, where Themis, preserver of cities, 3 
who sits in judgment by Zeus, the patron of strangers, 
is worshipped more than among other men. For 
that which is important and varied in its bearings 
cannot be decided with right judgment and in a way 
suited to the occasion 4 without a hard struggle ; 

1 The poet seems to deprecate <p66vos by saying that though the 
victor is great in his own department of skill, others are equally great 
in other things. 

2 The clan of the Blepsiadae, to which the victor and his brother 
Timosthenes belonged, were devoted to the cultus of Zeus, to whom 
accordingly their successes in the games are attributed. 

3 Aegina was famous for a court of arbitration, where complex 
questions of international law were decided in lieu of an appeal to 
arms. (See Pyth. viii. 23.) 

4 That is, a manner not unsuited to the critical position of affairs, or 
the contending interests of parties. The meaning is, that diplomatic or 
international disagreements are often delicate matters that are difficult 
to adjust. 



40 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [25-49 

and surely it was an appointment of the gods them- 
selves that set this sea-fenced country, like a heaven- 
built pillar, as a prop for foreigners from every land. 
May coming time not weary in effecting this ; for 'tis 
a land where law has been dispensed 1 by a Doric 
people ever since the time of Aeacus. This was the 
hero whom the son of Latona and the widely-ruling 
Poseidon, when they were about to construct a ram- 
part to inclose Ilium, called in to assist them in the 
work of the wall, because it was destined that when 
wars arose it should breathe forth a violent smoke in 
city- riving fights. Accordingly, when it was just 
built, three glaring- eyed dragons tried to enter it by 
a sudden leap; of these, two fell down, and there 
gave up their lives, defeated in the attempt ; but one 
sprang in with a loud war-cry. 2 And straightway 
Apollo, pondering on the portent, 3 spake thus in 
presence of Aeacus : " Heroic man ! in the part where 
thy hands have worked at it, the Pergamus is destined 
to be taken. For so this vision assures me, sent from 
the loudly-thundering Zeus. Yet not without the 
aid of your descendants ; but with the first genera- 
tion and the fourth it shall be subjected to your 
sway :" 4 Thus plainly spake the god, and sped on 

1 Or, which " has been governed," — lit. " husbanded," rajxi^vo^vav, 

2 The three dragons typified the assaults on Troy in later times ; the 
two heroes who failed to take it were Ajax and Achilles ; he who suc- 
ceeded was the son of the last, JNTeoptolemus. 

3 He was Tepaa-KS-rros, Aesch. Eura. 62. 

4 Troy was taken by Hercules with Telamon, the son of Aeacus, and 
thejirst of his race ; and afterwards by Neoptolemus, the great grand- 
son of Aeacus, and therefore fourth in descent including Aeacus. 



47-64] OLYMPIAN ODE VIII. 41 

his way, to Xanthus and the well -mounted Amazons 
and to Ister 1 driving his car. But the wielder of 
the uplifted trident harnessed his swift chariot for 
the Isthmus 2 over the sea, conveying Aeacus on 
his golden steeds from Troy to Aegina, and went 
to Corinth on the hill, to visit the far-famed spectacle 
at his feast. Now no pleasure that befals mortal 
men can ever be a pleasure to all alike. 3 If glory 
from his youthful pupils has grown up for Melesias 
through me by this hymn, 4 let not envy strike me 
with a rough stone. For at Nernea too I shall have 
to recount along with this a similar victory, and a 
subsequent one in a contest with men 5 in the pan- 
cratium. Surely the teaching others is easier to 
one who has the knowledge. Not to have learnt 
first, shows a want of sense ; for the minds of the 
inexperienced are less stable. Now these exercises 
this trainer can tell more fully than others, — what 
method will get a man on, who is likely to win from 



1 The Hyperboreans, a people devoted to the cultus of Apollo, were 
supposed to live north of the Danube. (See iii. 16.) 

2 eV 'lo-dfxbu irovriav seems a better reading ; "he drove (rduvev = 
€T€ii/ei/) his car to Isthmus and to the mountain ridge where Corinth 
stands;" By a poetic anachronism, the Isthmian games are represented 
as existing when Troy was first built. 

3 The successes of one man are a cause of jealousy to another. 

4 I cannot believe in dva$pajjLe7i/ ufivov, " to run up a hymn," as Dr. 
Donaldson explains it. I propose to read (as I have translated), el 5' 
ifiol — Kvdos dveSpa/j.ev. Melesias was the successful trainer of the 
present victor and others, and seems to have incurred the ill-will of the 
Aeginetans. 

* avSpccv paxa, not /xa%a^. This is opposed to the contest with 
youths, dycveiov. Schneidewin reads \axe?v. 



42 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [64-82 

the sacred contests the much-coveted meed of .renown. 
On the present occasion Alcimedon has been a credit 
to him, by winning a thirtieth victory. 1 For he, 
by a luck given him from the god, and not failing 
in valour, put off from himself on the limbs 2 of four 
striplings the much-disliked return and the greeting 
without compliment and the sneaking route. 3 And 
his grandfather he has inspired with new vigour to 
grapple with old age. Yerily a man has small 
thought of the grave when he has gained befitting 
honours. But 'tis my part now to rouse up memory 4 
and tell of the victories of the Blepsiadae in prowess 
of hand ; for this is the sixth wreath that has been 
laid on their brows from the crown- conferring games. 
As even the dead have some part (in the honours 
to the living), when paid them as a customary tri- 
bute, so the dust does not conceal the good 
success of kinsmen. 5 And thus Iphion, when he 
hears it from Report, the angel-child of Hermes, 
may tell to Callimachus the brilliant honour won at 



1 This is, the thirtieth won by pupils of Melesias. 

2 The word u limbs " is used in reference to this being a wrestling- 
match. 

3 The return by a bye-way without a comus. These dreaded results 
the victor is said to have shifted from himself, viz. by proving himself 
the winner, to those whom he defeated. 

4 To bring to mind and recount the departed members of the clan of 
the Blepsiadae, who have formerly won prizes. 

5 The sense is, "As the dead have a share (i.e. by the recital at 
iuayiafMol, or sacred rites, at the tombs of heroes) in the victories of the 
living, so the living share in the honours of their kinsfolk who are 
dead." By avyyovoi the poet means members of the same clan. 



83-88] OLYMPIAN ODE VIII. 43 

Olympia, 1 which Zeus has granted to their family. 
May he be willing to give them victory upon victory, 
and keep off acute diseases ! I pray that in this new 
accession of honours he may not cause a factious ill- 
feeling against them ; but by giving them to pass a 
life free from harm, may he aggrandize both them 
and their city. 

1 Iphion seems to have been the father, and Callimachns the nncle of 
the victor ; and both appear to have died of some malignant illness. 



44 



ODE IX. 

On the victory of Epharmostus of Opus in the 
wrestling-match, which is supposed to have been 
gained B.C. 456. He had won many victories in 
other games, which are enumerated in v. 86-99. 
This ode was sung at a banquet after crowning the 
altar of Ajax, son of O'ileus, who was worshipped as 
a hero by the Locrians. 

SUMMAKY OF THE AEGUMENT. 

The poet dedicates his ode to Zeus the thunderer (the god 
of the Locrians) and to Olympia. Opus, the victor's city, is 
praised for its justice and good government. — Valour and 
prowess are due to the gods, as is shewn by the case of 
Hercules. — Legend of Pyrrha and Deucalion, of the Flood, 
and the Creation of Man. — Parentage of the hero Locrus. — 
Enumeration of honours won by Epharmostus, who is pre- 
ferred to others for his natural gifts, as well as his singular 
skill in wrestling. 

The plain- song of Archilochus sung at Olympia 
with the voice alone/ — the hymn of victory rung 
out in triple verse, — sufficed to conduct Epharmostus 



1 It was not accompanied by any instrument, but the word r-fjueWa 
(like the sound ting ! Compare tinnulus), was pronounced by the 
singers in such a way as to imitate the twang of a harp-string. 



2 " 26 ] OLYMPIAN ODE IX. 45 

in the comus with his accompanying friends to 
the hill of Cronus. But now shoot other weapons l 
from the far-striking bow of the Muses, and enter 
on the theme of Zeus, the lord of the ruddy bolt, and 
the hallowed jutting headland of Elis, which erst 
the Lydian hero Pelops selected for himself as a most 
beautiful dower with Hippodamia. And discharge 
a feathered arrow of sweet song Pytho-wards, for 
you will not engage in a vain subject in striking the 
quivering lute on the art of wrestling of a man 
from far-famed Opus, praising her and her son. 
For Themis and her daughter, the preserver of 
cities, the highly-esteemed goddess of good laws, have 
taken her into their patronage ; and she thrives in vic- 
tories won at Castaly and by the stream of Alpheus. 
From thence the choicest crowns exalt the famous me- 
tropolis of the Locrians, the city of beautiful trees. 2 
On my own part then, that I may make a friendly 
state illustrious in glowing strains, quicker than a 
noble steed or a ship under sail will I send in all 
directions this message, 3 if the fates have given me 



1 Lit. "with arrows of the kind that now follows." The exact 
meaning of imueifiai is obscure. Properly, the verb means " to tres- 
pass," "encroach upon." Here, perhaps, it is " to approach," u enter 
upon the ground of." So XapircDj/ ktjttov ve/JLtcrOai, in ver. 27. 

2 The name Opus ('Onsets) is from the oirbs or fig-juice which the 
Boeotians used in making cheese, hence called rvpbs bmas. The epithet 
in the text seems to have reference to this, and is not a mere common- 
place. 

s Viz. of the present victory; or perhaps, of the praises of Opus 
enumerated above. 



46 THE ODES OF FINDAR. [26-45 

any skill to cultivate the choice garden of the 
Graces. 1 For they are the givers of all that brings 
pleasure ; and it is through the god that men 
become either valiant or skilled in verse. Were it 
not so, how could Hercules ever have brandished 
in his hands the club, in facing the trident, when 
Poseidon took his stand at Pylos and dealt at him a 
thrust, — a thrust, too, made Phoebus, when he drove 
him back 2 with his silver bow, and Hades himself 
allowed not the staff to rest, wherewith he takes 
down to the cavernous ways beneath the bodies of 
mortal men as they die. Reject, my mouth, this 
story ; for to speak rashly of the gods is a skill they 
regard with no favour ; and to blurt presumptuously 
at the wrong time is to strike the key-note of 
madness. 3 Do not on this occasion talk of such 
themes ; leave war, and all fighting of the im- 
mortals, to itself. Rather bring your eloquence to 
bear on the city of Protogeneia, where first by the 
decree of Zeus, lord of the quivering bolt, Pyrrha 
and Deucalion descending from Parnassus made 
them a home, and without marriage got for them- 



1 The field of poetry. 

2 I suggest TreAt/uLiCoov instead of iroXefiifait, For this sense of 
'peiSei*/, "to tilt at," comp. Ar. Equit. 627; Nub. 558. 

s There can be little doubt that the singular and ancient legend here 
touched upon (it is alluded to also in Horn. II. v. 395) was connected 
with the mysteries, which the poet here avows his dislike to trench 
upon. Pylos perhaps represents the west (the supposed abode of 
Hades), and the legend appears to symbolize a contest in favour of 
mankind between the principles of evil and of good. 



45-62] OLYMPIAN ODE IX. 47 

selves a race from stones, 1 to unite into one people, 
who were thus named \aoL Awake for them the 
clear- sounding strains of yerse ; be your theme old 
wine 2 and the flowers of newer hymns. Men do 
say, however, that the dark earth was once over- 
whelmed by a mighty flood ; but that by the devices 
of Zeus an ebb soon took off the stagnant water. 
From that ancient race came of yore your ancestors 
with the brazen shield, sons of women of the stock 
of Iapetus and of the family of the mighty Cronidae, 
kings of the country through all time ; till at last 
the ruler of Olympus carried off from the land of 
the Epeians the daughter of Opus, and enjoyed her 
undisturbed on the ridge of Maenalus. Then he 
carried her to Locrus, 3 that old age might not 
bring him down to the grave, fixing to him the 
heavy burden of a childless lot. But the wife 
was already pregnant by the chief of the gods ; 



1 See Virg. Georg. i. 62. The similarity of Kaas " a stone " and 
Xabs " a people," probably gave rise to the story. The root of both 
is probably XaF = lap {lapis, Lapithce). 

2 If you must praise old things, let your theme be a harmless and con- 
vivial one, but not one concerning the gods. In spite of this exhorta- 
tion, he goes on to give an account (a curious and interesting one it is) 
of the ancient traditions about a general flood in the time of Deuca- 
lion, and its subsequent subsidence. By " dark earth" the low alluvial 
plains may possibly be meant. Those of Thessaly are said to have 
been formerly submerged. (See Diodor. Sic. iv. chap. 18.) 

3 This king was the last of the indigenous stock, — the Autochthonous 
race who from the time of Deucalion had been -kings of the Locri. 
The object of the poet is to show, that the clan or family of the present 
victor was descended directly from Zeus and the daughter of Opus, 
Protogeneia, who became the wife of Locrus, though the son born from 
her was not really by him. 



48 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [62-81 

and the hero rejoiced when he saw a son born to 
him from another sire; and he gave him a name 
that he should be called after his mother's father, 1 
a man conspicuous beyond others 2 for form and 
actions; and he provided him with a city and a 
people to govern. Strangers too came to visit him, 
from Argos, and from Thebes ; some from Arcady, 
others from Pisa. But he whom he honoured above 
all settlers was the son of Actor and Aegina, Me- 
noetius. His son it was who went with the Atridae 
to the plain of Teuthras and made a stand alone 
with Achilles, when Telephus had routed the 
valorous Danai and attacked their ships' sterns. 
And thus he showed to one who had the intelligence 
to see it, that Patroclus had the mind of a true 
warrior. Thenceforth, by persuasion of the son of 
Thetis, he never took his post in the slaughterous 
fight far away from Achilles' man-slaying spear. 4 
May I find words to tell my tale in suitable phrase 
while borne along in the car of the Muses ; and may 



1 Opus, after the father of Protogenia. 

2 vw€p<f)aTov is the same as virepQavrov, as irpStyarou means irp6<pav- 
tov in viii. 16. Thus <pa<ris and hirocpavis are referable either to 
077/xl or (paivx, the root of both being the same. 

3 Or, " made them retire to the sterns of their ships," which were 
drawn up with the prows sea-ward. It is to be noticed that in our 
Homer not the slightest allusion to this circumstance is to be found. 

4 Lit. " From which time (or circumstance) the son of Thetis talked 
him over never to take his place in destructive war apart from his man- 
subduing spear." The word ovKios takes the digamma, and does not 
require the wretched shift of a ye which editors have inserted metri 
gratia. 



82-99] OLYMPIAN ODE IX. 49 

courage and ample power attend my efforts. It was 
from friendship as well as for his prowess that 
I went l in support of Lampromachus' Isthmian 
victory, when both he and his brother conquered in 
a contest on one day. Two other successes Ephar- 
mostus afterwards had in the pass 2 of Corinth ; and 
yet another in the vale of Nemea. At Argos he 
won glory from a contest with men ; and as a 
stripling at Athens. (I would tell too) 3 how 
bravely at Marathon he stole away from the com- 
pany of the youths, and sustained a contest with his 
seniors for the prize of silver plate ; how he beat 
the sturdy wrestlers 4 by cunning craft, throwing 
his weight suddenly on them without making a trip ; 
and how he went the circle of the spectators amid 
loud cheers, young and handsome, and winner of a 
most honourable prize. On another occasion he 
appeared the admired of all to the Arcadian host, at 
the assembly of Zeus Lycaeus ; again, when he 
carried off at Pellene the comforting remedy against 
cold airs. 5 The tomb of Iolaus likewise is a witness, 



1 That is, on a former occasion ; the metaphor from the poetic 
journey being kept up. Lampromachus was the brother of the present 
victor, who had himself gained other prizes. It seems that Lampro- 
machus became personally known to the poet when he (Lampromachus) 
was acting as irp6^vos or consul at Thebes. 

2 The "gates of Corinth'' seem poetically to mean "the Isthmus, ■ 
and nothing more. 

3 Before ohv dycova it seems best to repeat dvayeTcrOcu from above. 

4 (pcores seems purposely used in antithesis to 7rcus or ayeveios, 
though properly the word means " fighters." 

6 The prize was a woollen cloak. 



50 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [99-112 

and the sea-town of Eleusis, to his' honours. 1 Now 
that which comes by nature is in all cases the best ; 
albeit many men have essayed to achieve glory by 
taking lessons in valour. Everything that is done 
without the god is more wisely kept silent. For 
though there are some roads which lead further 
(to glory) than other roads, yet one practice will 
not train us all all alike. Perfect skill is diffi- 
cult to attain; but when you bring forward this 
prize, proclaim aloud with confidence that this man 
at least was born by the decree of heaven active in 
hand, nimble in limb, looking fight. And now as 
victor he has crowned at the banquet the altar of 
Ajax the son of ileus. 

1 Lit. ll an advocate in his cause." 



51 



ODE X. 

Ox the victory of Agesidamus of the Locri Epize- 
phyrii, in lower Italy, in the wrestling-match with 
boys, b.c. 484. This ode was written to be sung at 
Olympia, and was sent as a temporary tribute, 
pending the longer ode next following, which 
appears to have been composed some years later. 



SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

The subject of the present little song is the need of poetry 
for celebrating deeds of valour, the promise of a longer hymn 
in due time, and the praise of the Locrians both for valour 
and wisdom. 



There are times when men stand most in need of 
winds ; sometimes, of rain-water from the sky, 
offspring of the cloud. But when a man by dint of 
toil gains a success, honey-voiced hymns are an 
introduction to an after address. 1 Even a solemn 



1 In this passage the general is so mixed up with the special as to in- 
volve some obscurity. The natural continuation would have been, 
" But when a man gains a victory, then he stands most in need of 
verse." This, however, is made to apply to the present victor, to whom 
the poet promises to send afterwards a longer hymn. Thus he means, 
" In your case a short hymn shall be sent merely as a guerdon of a 
longer one." 



52 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [ 5 ~ 21 

oath is paid in the case of signal virtues. 1 Nor 
ought jealousy to attend a praise which is thus held 
in reserve for Olympic victors. 2 Some part of it 3 
my tongue desires to keep in store. But it is only 
by favour of the god that a man flourishes for all 
time in the poetic faculty. 4 Be assured then, son 
of Archestratus, Agesidamus, that for this victory of 
yours in boxing I will sing you a meed of sweet 
strains to your chaplet of golden olive, not omitting 
the race of the Epizephyrian Locri. There, Muses 
take part in the comus-song; I will pledge my 
word that you shall come to them, not as to a nation 
that shuns strangers or has had no experience in 
gaining honours, but to one that is first-rate in 
poetry and skilled in the spear. 5 For their in-born 
character neither tawny fox 6 nor roaring lions are 
likely to change. 

1 It is surely better to construe reWerai 'SpKiov than (with the 
Schol.) apxal \6*y<av reWerai, by an idiom called schema Pindaricum. 
For this appears only to hold good when a singular verb precedes a 
noun in the masculine or feminine plural. (<xpx&> Mommsen.) The 
sense is, " in deeds of valour so distinguished as yours, no mere promise 
but a positive oath is due, that the proper meed of song shall be paid." 

2 The very fact of its being future and prospective, ought to disarm 
the ill-feeling that is apt to attend excessive praise. Dr. Donaldson 
renders a<\>Q6vr)Tos " abundant." But compare xiii. 25. 

a Viz. the praise of the Locrians generally in the next ode. To 
this also the words below refer, AoKp&v 7ej/ea*/ aKtyaiv. The metaphor 
in iroi/jLaiveiv is from a flock tended and fed till required for use. 

* The poet hereby guards himself against making too rash a promise. 

6 Comp. xi. 14. jueAet Te a<pi(Ti (Aonpols) KaKAi6ira Kal x^ Keos 
'Apr)s. 

6 The Romans had a similar proverb, vulpem pilum mutare, non 
mores, Sueton.Vesp. § 16. 



1-9] 53 



ODE XI. 

On the same victory as the preceeding, but later 
in point of date. This ode was sung at a banquet 
given on the anniversary. (In most editions this ode 
is made to follow ode x. Mommsen however retains 
the old order of the copies, in placing this first.) 

SUMMAEY OF THE AEGUMENT. 

The poet apologizes for having appeared so long to forget 
his promise, but engages now to pay the debt with interest. — 
Praise of the Locrians for skill in the arts of poetry and war. 
— Mention of Has, the trainer. — Institution of the Olympic 
games by Hercules, after defeating Augeas. — Enumeration of 
the first victors. — The late payment of the ode is compared 
to the birth of an only son to a father advanced in life. — 
The graceful bearing and comely looks of the young victor. 

Read for me the name of the Olympian victor, 
Archestratus' son, (that I may know) where it is 
written in my mind. For I have been forgetful 
that I owed him a sweet strain. But do thou, Muse, 
and thou Truth, daughter of Zeus, with upraised 
hand 1 keep away from me the reproach of falsehood to 
the injury of a friend. 3 For time then future has come 
on me from afar, and has covered with disgrace my 
deep debt. 3 Nevertheless, interest can rid me of the 

1 vTC€p6x* lv X^P a was a common phrase for the protection of the 
gods. 

2 That is, of wronging a £eVos hy deceiving him. For avefiuv or 
aXirelv \kvov was thought one of the gravest faults (see Aesch. Eum. 260). 

s It hence appears that this ode was not written till several years 
after the last. 



54 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [ 9_24 

keenly- felt reproach, [by taking away] l the rolling 
pebbles where the wave washes them ashore as it 
flows, and [enabling us] to pay a common 2 tribute 
to oblige a friend. For truthfulness directs the city 
of the Locri on the west ; Calliope too is their delight, 
and mail-clad Ares ; yea, the fight with Cycnus 3 
beat even the valiant Hercules. And now let Age- 
sidamus, who has conquered in boxing at the contest 
at Olympia, give the same thanks to Has 4 that 
Patroclus gave to Achilles. For a man who sharpens 
another, naturally gifted with valour, may incite him 
to win immense glory with the favouring hand of 
the god. A success without trouble only some few 
have won, — that light to a man's life before all other 
achievements. 5 Divine justice 6 has impelled me to 
sing of a contest that holds the first rank in Hellas, 

1 The reading of the MSS. dvdpwv is corrupt, and various emenda- 
tions have been proposed ; the best perhaps by Schneidewin, open-' 
cop oira, etc. Mommsen gives tokos oiradewi/. It is extremely doubt- 
ful whether 6Va can stand, as Dr. Donaldson and Hermann take it, 
for the direct question. Some participle like a(paipaji> seems wanted, 
agreeing with t6kos, " interest that can remove the accumulated load 
of debt," lit., "the rolling pebbles (from the place) where the current 
washes them up," — a metaphor from the heaps of silt and shingle left 
by a torrent, as in Pyth. vi. 13. 

2 Common both to the victor and to his countrymen the Locri. 

s He was a freebooter from or near Opus. This case, and the suc- 
cess of the present victor mentioned next, are intended to illustrate the 
valour of the Locri in fighting. 

4 His trainer. The allusion to Patroclus is again one that is 
absent from our Iliad. 

5 Cf. Eur. Hipp. 1016, iyw 5* aywvas filu KpaTslv 'EWtjvikovs 
irpooTos 6e\oiix &v. 

6 A sense of justice in paving a debt long due. Lit. " the just laws 
of Zeus have set me on singing of a choice (or special) contest." 



24 ~ 4 *] OLYMPIAN ODE XI. 55 

which near the ancient barrow of Pelops the mighty 
Hercules founded, after slaying the sturdy son of 
Poseidon, Cteatus, and likewise Eurytus, in order to 
exact from Augeas, willingly from one unwilling, 
the fee for his service, an exorbitant demand. 1 And 
it was by lying in wait for him in ambush near 
Cleonae that Hercules defeated them 2 on the road, 
because on a former occasion they had made havoc 
of a Tirynthian host of his by sitting concealed in 
one of the valleys of Elis, — those overbearing sons of 
Molus. And indeed not long afterwards this de- 
ceiver of his guests, the king of the Epeians, saw 
that wealthy land, his own city, ravaged by stubborn 
fire and blows of the sword, settling down into the 
deep trench of calamity. 3 To shift from oneself a 
quarrel with superiors is a difficult task. Thus 
Augeas in his turn through his want of forethought 
met with capture last, 4 and escaped not dire death. 
Then the valiant son of Zeus, collecting together 



1 KaTpiov is a substantive, like olKovpiov, Soph. Trach. 542, " the 
price of service." It seems to me impossible to construe, with Dr. 
Donaldson, ebs irpdo-aoiro virepfiiov Kvyeau Xdrpiov /jlhtOSv. Words 
so involved would convey no intelligible meaning. — For the story of 
Cteatus. and Eurytus and the Moliones, see Horn. II. xi. 700 seqq. 

2 Gr. koX neivous, viz., Cteatus and Eurytus also, as they had before, 
by the same treacherous means, defeated an army under Hercules. The 
poet defends his hero from the charge of foul play, because any act was 
justifiable on the law of retribution. 

3 The metaphor is from the burning of a moated town, where the 
ashes and burnt timber choke up the surrounding trench. 

4 Viz., after Cteatus and Eurytus. Dr. Donaldson joins vo-tcltos 
a\d)(fios. But avrav sometimes governs a genitive like rvx^y, e.g. 
II. vii. 158. 



56 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [43-64 

at Pisa his whole host and all the booty, measured 
ground for a sacred grove to his almighty sire ; and 
having fenced round the Altis, he left it to stand 
separate on a clear spot, while the plain all around 
he appointed as a resting-place for entertainment, 
and raised an altar in honour of the River- god 
Alpheus 1 with the twelve principal deities. And he 
called it the hill of Cronus : for hitherto it had no 
name, while Oenomaus was king there, but it was 
wetted with much snow. 2 And at this, the first in- 
auguration of the solemn rite, 3 the Fates were pre- 
sent, and that only genuine test of truth, Time. 4 And 
Time in its onward course has informed us of the true 
account, in what way the founder distributed the 
choice spoils and offered the tithe of the war, and 
how he appointed that the festival should be kept 
every fifth year, with the victories won at this first 
Olympian contest. Who then gained the newly- 
appointed crown with hands and feet and the car, 
having conceived the intention of winning glory at 
the games, and securing it 5 in action ? First in the 

1 The local divinity was honoured and propitiated by being made 
(tv/jl^coixos with the twelve great gods. 

2 A curious and noteworthy tradition (of a glacial or post-glacial 
period?). 

8 Lit. " at this first-born rite." The office of the Molpai was to 
preside at births. 

4 Time is personified, and spoken of as " the sole prover of truth," 
because traditions which stand the test of time and research are 
assumed to be true. 

5 Kadaipew is a metaphor from wrestling, " to tug down an ad- 
versary." 



64_84 ] OLYMPIAN ODE XI. 57 

straight reach of the stadium in the foot-race was the 
son of Licymnius, Oeonus ; he had come from,Midea 
conducting an armed host. Echemus it was who in 
wrestling shed glory on Tegea ; Doryclus won the 
prize in boxing, inhabitant of the city Tiryns ; on 
four horses/ Samus of Man tinea, the son of Halir- 
rhothius. With the javelin Phrastor hit the mark ; 
in the long fling Niceus by a whirl of the hand 
threw with the stone further than all ; and the allied 
forces greeted him as he passed 2 with loud hurrahs. 
And in the midst of the contest the lovely brightness 
of the fair-faced moon lighted up Vesper, and all the 
sacred inclosure rang with festive songs after the 
fashion of the comus. 3 And now we also, following 
these precedents of the olden time, with a hymn that 
takes its name from ennobling victory 4 will cele- 
brate the thunder-clap and the bolt in the fiery hand 
of loud-rumbling Zeus, the ruddy lightning that is 
associated with every victory. 5 And the festive song 
to the reed shall meet the strains of the lute/ which, 

1 In the race with, the four-horsed chariot. 

2 Lit., " made to rush past (or along with) him a loud uproar." So 
irapaireixireiu dSpvfiov is used in Ar. Equit. 546. It is probable that 
alBvcr(X€ii/ is a dialectic form of aiaaeij/, cr and being interchanged, as 
in albs for debs, 6p6bs and dpabs, uiQziv and au(ni£eii/ } etc. See Pyth. i. 
87 iv. 83. Mommsen reads av^axi-cL. 

s The present custom of the comus-song is referred to the festive 
sounds then heard. 

4 Viz., with an iiriviKiou. The construction seems the same as in 
Aesch. Ag. 164, Zr\ua 5e ris Trpo(pp6vcos eizivLKia K\d(cci/. 

5 So Isth. ii. 19, KXetvah 'Epex^eibau x a P ire(TaLV cipapws. Vic- 
tories were often thought to be gained by the express intervention of 
Zeus the thunderer {e.g. in Horn. II. viii. 133) ; hence " every victory" 
means both in war and in contests. Zeus was specially worshipped by 
the Locrians as the god of thunder. Cf. ix. 42. 

6 From inf. 93-4 it appears that this must be the sense of /xeAeW. 



58 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [85-105 

though with long delay, have been composed by 
Dirce's famed waters. But even as a son by a wife 1 
is welcome to a father who has now reached an age 
the reverse of youthful, and greatly warms his heart 
with feelings of affection ; since wealth that has found 
a strange owner adopted from another family becomes 
most hateful to a dying man ; so when one who has 
achieved honours, Agesidamus, goes to Hades' 
bourne without song, he has lived in vain, and given 
all his pains but a brief pleasure. 2 Now for you 
both the sweet-voiced lute and the honeyed pipe 
shed their joys : and a wide- spread fame is kept up 
by the Pierian maids, the daughters of Zeus. I 
then, taking up the theme with them in good earnest, 
have embraced in my song the famed nation of the 
Locri, moistening with honey-dew the city of a brave 
race. And I have said a good word for the hand- 
some son of Archestratus, whom I saw as a victor in 
prowess of hand by the altar at Olympia, 3 at that 
time 4 fair in form and of that tempered boyish grace 5 
which erst kept away from Ganymede remorseless 
fate with the favour of the Cyprus-born goddess. 

1 A legitimate son, to inherit his property. 

2 The meed of poetry to a victor is as grateful as a son born to a 
rich man in his old age, because in both cases the family name and 
credit are perpetuated. 

8 The poet probably saw the youth as he was attended by a comus 
of friends to the altar on the Altis, to return thanks for the victory. 

4 This ode, it will be remembered, was written some time afterwards. 

5 Lit., "mixed with," in reference perhaps to his having also some- 
thing of manly stature and strength. 



59 



ODE XII. 

To Ergoteles of Himera, who won the foot-race in 
the long heat, B.C. 472. He had been compelled to 
leave Cnosus in Crete in consequence of a sedition, 
and took refuge at Himera, which had lately thrown 
off the tyranny of Thrasydaeus of Agrigentum. 
Hence the allusion in the beginning to Zev<z iXevOepuos 
and acorecpa Tv%a. The ode appears to have been 
sung in the temple of one or other of these gods, 
probably the latter. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

Address to Fortune, as having influence in the welfare of 
men by sea, on land, in war, and in councils. — Chance rules 
all things, and men's hopes are often vain. — The accident of 
Ergoteles being expelled from his country brought him into 
notice as a runner, and now he has done honour to his 
adopted country. 

I beseech thee, daughter of Zeus, the friend of 
freedom, continue to protect the widely-ruling Hi- 
mera, thou saviour goddess Fortune. For by thee 
on the sea are guided swift ships, and on land rapid 



60 THE ODES OF PINDAR. t 5-19 

wars and assemblies of councillors. 1 But the ex- 
pectations of men too oft toss to and fro in a vain 
voyage through, a sea of disappointment ; and no 
man on earth has ever yet found any sure token from 
heaven about his future success. 2 For the indica- 
tions of coming events are blinded by darkness. 3 
Many things fall out to men beyond their expectation, 
sometimes contrary to pleasure, while others after 
encountering the stormy waves of woe have suddenly 
exchanged their trouble for some substantial good. 
Son of Philanor, in sooth even your credit for speed 
(as a cock that fights at home) would have faded 
away unknown to fame at your family hearth, had 
not a sedition that set man against man deprived 
you of your fatherland at Cnosus. 4 As it is, by 
having won yourself a crown at Olympia and twice 
from Pytho, and also at the Isthmus, Ergoteles, you 
exalt the hot baths of the Nymphs, dwelling in 
lands that you can now call your own. 5 

1 The issues of wars were attributed to chance, or luck, Thucyd. i. 
140 ; and in public councils it was a formula to commence ayaOrj rvxy, 
"May this prove lucky to the state," etc. See Aristoph. Thesm. 350. 
For the influence of Tvxv with, ships, see Aesch. Ag. 648. 

2 Or, " about an action which is yet to come off." — It is remarkable 
that here, as in Horn. II. xii. 238, there is an undisguised disbelief in 
the popular opinions about omens and augury. See viii. 3. 

8 All attempts to predict future events are frustrated by our real 
ignorance about them. 

4 This seems alluded to as a case of rvxn- The Cretans generally, 
though good runners, do not appear to have taken part in the public 
games. 

5 That is, as a naturalized inhabitant of Himera, the city of the hot 
springs. 



61 



ODE XIII. 

Xenophon of Corinth, of the clan of the Oligse- 
thidao, won the prize in the foot-race and also (ver. 
30) in the pentathlum, B.C. 464. As his father Thes- 
salus had also been a victor in the foot-race at 
Olympia (ver. 35), the family is called " thrice vic- 
torious' y in ver. 1. Dr. Donaldson thinks the ode was 
sung on the victor's public entrance into Corinth. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

In praising the victor the poet eulogizes Corinth for its 
justice, good government, and love of peace, and rebuts the 
charge of its being proud and exclusive. — The celebrity of 
Corinth in olden times for its inventions, its poets, and for 
the arts of war. — Prayers to Zeus for the prosperity of the 
victor's clan. — Enumeration of family-victories. — Glories of 
Corinth in its heroes of old. — Story of Bellerophon and Pegasus. 
— Victories gained by Oligaethids in different games. — Good 
wishes that they may enjoy their fortune. 

In praising a house thrice victorious at Olympia, 
courteous to citizens and ministering to strangers, I 
will take as my theme Corinth the wealthy, 1 that 
gives access to Poseidon of the Isthmus, famous for 

1 Thucyd. i. 13, says of Corinth that the ancient poets (e.g. II. ii. 
570) a<pvztbv iircavS/JLaaau rb xupiov. 



62 THE ODES OF PINDAH. [ 5 ~ 21 

its fine youth. For in it resides good government, 
and the twin sisters, the secure base on which cities 
rest, Justice and congenial Peace, those dispensers of 
wealth to men, and the golden offspring of the 
wisely- counselling Themis. 1 And they are desirous 
to keep away haughty pride, 2 the bold-speaking 
mother of satiety. I have much good to say of 
them, and an honest confidence prompts my tongue 
to utter it. Indeed 'tis a hard task to hide the 
qualities that are born with a race. 3 To you, sons of 
Aletes, on many occasions have the flowery seasons 
given the glory of victory, as to men 4 who surpassed 
in the highest accomplishments at the sacred games; 
many ingenious devices too in times of old have they 
put in the hearts of the citizens ; and to the inventor 
belongs the credit of everything that is done. 
"Whence first appeared those poems in honour of 
Dionysus with the dithyramb that drives off 5 the 
ox ? Well, who was it that added to horses' harness 
the means of guiding them, or who first set the king 
of birds on the two pediments of the temple of the 

1 opQo$ov\os ©e/MS, Aesch. Prom. 18. 

2 This fault was commonly alleged against the Corinthians. For 
the sentiment cf. Aesch. Ag. 740 (as emended by me), via 5' (vfipis) 

€(f)V(T€U KOpQV. 

3 He means, that even silence on his part will not conceal the credit 
the Corinthians have gained by poetry, arts, and prowess. Compare 
01. x. 20. By " sons of Aletes" the Oligaethida? are meant. 

4 Lit. "the victorious honour of men surpassing," etc. The words 
might also mean, "victory over men who surpass," etc. 

6 Viz., as the prize. Arion of Corinth invented or improved the 
dithyramb. 



21 ~ 39 ] OLYMPIAN ODE XIII. 63 

gods ? With them too the sweetly-breathing Muse, 
with them Ares flourishes in the death-dealing 
lances of the young men. Ruler supreme who 
holdest wide sway at Olympia, mayst thou hear 
without jealousy for all time these my words, father 
Zeus ; and in directing this people unharmed by 
thy envy, grant that the gale may not swerve 
from its course that wafts the fortunes of Xeno- 
phon. 1 Receive from him now this customary 
escort of his crown, which he is bringing from Pisa's 
plains, a victor in the race of the stadium as well as 
in the five contests. 2 Never before did mortal man 
meet with such honours. Two parsley-wreaths 
moreover hung clustering on his hair when he 
showed himself at the Isthmian games ; nor is JSTemea 
at variance with them. 3 His father Thessalus has the 
record of his glancing feet preserved by Alpheus' 
stream ; at Pytho too he has a victory in the single 
stadium and the double heat gained in one day, 
while in the same month at rocky Athens the day of 
racing placed three most glorious exploits on his locks. 



1 This passage is very difficult to render in English without verbiage 
and circumlocution. Lit. "Supreme wide ruler of Olympia, mayst 
thou he free from envy at my words for all time, father Zeus ; and 
governing this people unharmed, send a straight gale of the fortune of 
Xenophon." 

2 The pcntathlum or quinquertium, aA/icc, irotiooKeirii/, dianov, 
&kovtcl, Trah7)v. The race in the stadium is here described as a distinct 
victory, not included under 7ro5a>/cua. 

8 at/Ti^oelu is " to scrape the wrong way," or " against the grain ;" 
i4 to set the teeth on edge." 



64 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [40-52 

The Hellotia 1 also (crowned him) seven times, and at 
the games of Poseidon by the two seas 2 longer 
hymns 3 accompanied his father Ptoeodorus with 
Terpsias and Eritimus. In how many contests you 
were first at Delphi and in the mountain- valleys of 
the lion 4 (though I compete with many in the num- 
ber of your honours), I am not able to state plainly, 
any more than I am likely to know the number of 
pebbles on the sea-strand. However, every subject 
has its due mean ; and it is best to keep in mind the 
proper occasion. 5 I, like a private adventurer who 
has made a voyage in company with a fleet, in 
speaking of the cunning craft and the fame in 
war of ancient men, on the subject of heroic valour 
will not speak falsely about Corinth. 6 (I shall cite) 
Sisyphus, most crafty in cunning arts, like a god, 



1 The feast in honour of Pallas, the goddess of light. 

2 The Isthmian. The names here mentioned are those of the 
victors' clan, the Oligaethidae. Terpsias and Eritimus seem to have been 
the brothers of Ptoeodorus, the father of Thessalus and grandfather of 
the victor. 

3 Not merely the 'Apx^6x ov jueAos, ix. 1. 

4 Lit. "the feeding-places," viz. at Nemea. The next sentence, 
" I contend with many," etc., is strangely expressed. The sense seems 
to be, "I challenge all the world to show as many honours ; but as for 
what is the true number {aacph ir\ri6os), — you might as well tell me to 
count the pebbles," etc. Compare sup. ii. 98. 

5 This is one of the many formulae in Pindar for deprecating the 
(pOouos that was thought to attend undue praise. 

6 The sense is, " I, who as a private friend am interested in setting 
forth virtues which in fact pertain to a whole clan and even city, will 
oelebrate the fame of the Corinthians of old for cunning (as in Sisyphus 
and Medea), and for fighting, as in the case of Glaucus, son (or grand- 
son) of Bellerophon. — For kv apercus compare Nem. iii. 32. 



53 " 69 ] OLYMPIAN ODE XIII. 65 

and Medea who made a marriage for herself in de- 
fiance of her father, and brought safe home the ship 
Argo and her crew. As for the other virtue, in 
times of old, in the fight before the walls of Dar- 
danus, the Corinthians were considered to decide the 
issue in fights both ways, 1 the one side, with the 
favourite son of Atreus, endeavouring to regain 
Helen, the other side striving to keep them alto- 
gether away. And Glaucus, who had come from 
Lycia, was dreaded by the Danai. To them he 
declared that in the city of Peirene his father held 
rule, with a rich portion of land and a palace ; 2 that 
hero who once, in his eager desire to harness the off- 
spring of the snaky Gorgon, Pegasus, at Peirene's 
spring, endured many trials, till at last the maiden 
Pallas brought him a bridle with a frontlet of gold ; 
and from a dream forthwith it proved a reality. For 
she called to him and said, " Sleepest thou, Aeolid 3 
king ? Come, take this horse-charm, and show it to 
your sire, Poseidon the horse-breaker, with the 



1 Whether as Lycians, under Glaucus, or as Corinthians under Aga- 
memnon, they were considered as having an influence that was decisive 
in any tight, viz., when either this or that party happened to be en- 
gaged in it. 

■ This is supposed to refer to II. vi. 144, seqq. A careful comparison 
however will show that Pindar did not take his account from our Iliad, 
in which, among other discrepancies, Glaucus is the grandson, not the 
son, of Bellerophon. How much, or whether any, of the following 
story about the taming of Pegasus was part of the narrative of Glaucus 
to the Greeks, must remain uncertain. It may be a description on the 
part of the poet. 

s Descended from Aeolus and Sisyphus. 



66 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [69-91 

sacrifice of a white bull." Such were the words which 
the maid of the sable aegis seemed to say to him as he 
slumbered in the dark. And up he sprang on feet 
erect, and seizing the divine gift that lay by him, he 
found to his delight a seer residing in the land, and 
showed to him, the son of Coeranus, the whole issue of 
the affair; how he had slept on the altar of the goddess 
at night from his prophetic warning, and how the 
daughter of Zeus, lancer of the thunderbolt, had with 
her own hands given him the spirit- taming gold. 
The seer bade him comply at once with the dream ; 
and that when he should have slaughtered a horny- 
hoofed bull to the widely-ruling Holder of Earth, 
he should forthwith set up an altar to the equestrian 
goddess Athene. The power of a god brings about 
an easy accomplishment beyond one's oath or even 
one's hope. So in truth did the sturdy Bellerophon 
with eager haste take captive the winged steed by 
tying the gentle remedy round his jaw ; and at once 
he mounted him, and disported himself in full brazen 
armour. With him too on one occasion he smote 
and slew, from the bosom of the cold desert 1 air, the 
female host of Amazon archers, the fire-breathing 
Chimaera, and the Solymi. Of his fate I will say 



1 It would simplify the construction to regard ep-fiftov as the imper- 
fect of the verb iprjfxoco, not the genitive of ep-qfios. The imperfect 
would imply the continuance of the action for some time. Compare 
Aesch. Pers. 300, &vapBpoy rd^ip rjp-fjfxov eavdbv* Besides, in 01. i. 7, 
the poet uses not ip^fiov but iprjfiasl 5*' alOepos. 



91-108] OLYMPIAN ODE XIII. 67 

nothing ; l but the steed found an abode in the 
ancient stalls of Zeus in Olympus. — For me, however, 
who have to send straight to the mark the whirling 
dart, 2 it is not meet to discharge with the full force 
of my hands all my store of darts : for it was to the 
Muses with the glittering thrones and to the Oligae- 
thidae that I came a willing ally, partly for victories 
at the Isthmus, partly for those at Nemea. In a 
brief word I will make numbers of them known; 
and the sweet-tongued voice of the good herald, 
heard sixty times from both places, shall confirm my 
words as a truthful witness on oath. Their prizes at 
Olympia have doubtless been already described. 3 
Those yet in store for them, I will hereafter speak 
of distinctly. At present I live in hope ; but the 
issue is in the hand of the god. But, if the family 
luck does not fail them, we will give this over to Zeus 
and Eny alius 4 to effect. But other victories there were 
(which I have to speak of) by the brow of Parnassus, 
as well as how many at Argos, and at Thebes, and how 
many of still greater honour the lordly altar of Zeus 

1 He describes it however in Isthm. vi. 44. It was also taken as 
the subject of a play by Euripides. Cf. Ar. Pac. 146. 

2 "Who am sending straight the whirl of the dart." The meaning 
is, "I must come now to the point, and say no more on the subject of 
Bellerophon." 

s Viz., by other poets. He is speaking, of course, of the successes 
of the Oligaethidae, — the noble Corinthian family, — over a period of 
very many years. 

4 This god of war was worshipped by the Corinthians. I have 
suggested the etymology of the name on II. vii. 166, as from iw and 
HAheaOaif comparing the Salii, priests or devotees of Mars. 



68 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [108-115 

Lycaeus will attest to the Arcadians, 1 — Pellene too, 
andSicyon, and Megara, and the well-inclosed precinct 
of the Aeacidae, Eleusis and fertile Marathon, and the 
fair rich cities beneath Aetna's lofty peak, and Euboea. 
Nay, you shall seek over all Hellas, and find others 
too distant for ken. 2 Grant them, king, Zeus the 
Accomplishes that with nimble feet they may get 
safe through life : give them the respect (of the citi- 
zens), and a sweet enjoyment of their honours. 

1 I here follow Schneidewin, oca r Apudo-i pdao-a), k.t.K. Mommsen 
gives ova r 'Aptcdcriv aaaov. 

2 The figure of speech seems borrowed from taking a survey of a 
wide country from a snornd. 



69 



ODE XIV. 

Asopichus or Orchomenus gained the prize in 
the foot-race with boys in the stadium, b.c. 476. 
This ode was sung by a chorus of boys in the temple 
of the Graces, who were specially worshipped at 
Orchomenus. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

Invocation of the three Graces, first generally, as queens 
of Orchomenus, and then severally by name. — To them is 
due all the pleasure, the happiness, and the honour that a 
man meets with in life. — In heaven too they direct the fes- 
tivities of the gods. — Echo is asked to bear the report of this 
victory to Cleodamus, the father, now deceased, in Hades. 

Ye dwellers in a settlement that enjoys the bless- 
ings of Cephisus' waters, a land of beautiful steeds, 
queens of fertile Orchomenus famed in song, ye 
Graces, guardians of the ancient race of the Minyae, 
hear me, for to you I pray; since it is by your 
favour that all which is pleasant and sweet comes to 
mortals, if any man is a poet, or handsome, or has 
gained glory by victory. Nay, the gods themselves 
preside not at the dance or the banquet without the 
revered Graces ; but they are the directors of all that 
is done in heaven, and setting their seats by the side 



70 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [10-24 

of the Pythian Apollo with the golden bow, they 
worship the eternal majesty of the Olympian Father. 
venerable Aglaia, and thou, song-loving Euphro- 
syne, daughters of the mightiest of the gods, lend 
me your ears, and thou also, tuneful Thalia, and 
regard this comus advancing with sprightly foot 
under favouring fortune. I have come to sing of 
Asopichus in the Lydian air, and with the strains of 
the lute, 1 because the land of the Minyae hath won 
at Olympia through thee. 8 Go now, Echo, to the 
dark- walled abode of Persephone, and convey to his 
father the glorious news, that when you see Cleo- 
damus you may tell him about his son, that she 3 
hath crowned his youthful locks by the vales of the 
renowned Pisa, with wreaths from the chivalrous 
contests. 

1 The context suggests this sense of jueAeTcuy, as of /*e'Aos in xi. 84. 
The strict sense of ^Kir-q is "practice " (0070707?, Hesych). 

2 That is, through, or by favour of, Aglaia, the Grace who presided 
over victory, which is itself called ay tola, xiii. 14, and a victor 
ctyAaby, (above, ver. 7). 

3 Viz., a Miyveia. 



71 



PYTHIAN ODES. 



Hiero, King of Syracuse, and the founder of the 
city of Aetna, whence his title of Aetnaeus, won the 
prize in the chariot- race, B.C. 474. In the same year 
he conquered the Tyrrhenians in a sea-fight off 
Cumae ; and in the year B.C. 480, he had defeated 
the Carthaginians at Himera. The eruption of 
Aetna, so finely described in this ode, is the same as 
that alluded to by Aeschylus in Prom. Yinct. 368, 
and Thucydides, iii. 116. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

Address to the lute. — The effects of music as pleasing to 
the gods but hateful to their enemies, such as the monster 
Typhoeus, who lies under the earth, imprisoned and tortured 
by Zeus. — Description of the eruption of Aetna. — Invocation 
of the god to spare the city Aetna for Hiero's sake. — Praises of 
and good wishes for Hiero's better health and future prosperity. 
— His son Dinomenes, whom he has made king of the new city. 
— Its foundation on Dorian, yet constitutional principles. — 
Hiero's victories compared to those at Salamis and Plataea. 
— Advice to Hiero to act in such a way as to ensure popu- 
larity in life and good report hereafter. 

Golden lute, joint possession of Apollo and the 
pansy- tressed Muses ; to which the step is obedient 



72 THE ODES OF PINDAR. C 2 ~ 19 

in opening the festive dance, and with whose notes 
the singers 1 comply, when with quivering strings 
thou givest the opening airs of choir-leading hymns ; 
even the pointed bolt of the never-failing fire thou 
can'st quench, 2 and the eagle sleeps on the sceptre of 
Zeus, dropping on both sides his swift pinion, king of 
birds ; for a dark mist thou hast shed upon his curved 
head, locking his eyelids in sweet repose ; and he while 
he slumbers heaves his supple back, charmed by thy 
tremulous sounds. Yea, even stalwart Ares, leaving 
far behind his roughly-pointed spears, 3 cheers his 
heart with soft repose. Thy airs, 4 too, soothe even 
the spirits of the daemons, at the music of Latonas' 
son and the deep-waisted Muses. But whatever 
Zeus loveth not flies in alarm on hearing the 
loud call of the Pierides, both on earth and in the 
raging sea ; and he who lies in the awful hell, that 
enemy of the gods, Typhoeus with his hundred 
heads, whom erst the Cilician cave of many names 5 
did rear, but now the sea-inclosing cliffs beyond 
Cumae (do hold), while Sicily presses down his 



1 These are the performers at dithyrambs or paeans , kvkXioi x°P°\ 
and probably different from those professional bards who sang lays in 
royal Courts. They are said to obey the lyre in so far as they sing or 
recite in harmony and character with it. 

2 That is, music hath power to calm even the wrath of Zeus. 

s hvo dovpe often form part of the armature of an Homeric hoplite. 

4 Lit., " arrows." It is probable that by Sai^vow Pindar means the 
heroes who were worshipped as hostile powers to be propitiated with 
sacrifices and contests of music and athletics at their tombs. 

5 It is called "Ap^a in II. ii. 780. 



19-34] PYTHIAN ODE I. 73 

shaggy breast, and that pillar of heaven keeps him 
fast, the snowy Aetna, all the year through the nurse 
of bright dazzling snow. From it are belched forth 
out of its inmost depths the purest jets of unap- 
proachable fire. In the day-time the streams (of 
lava) pour forth a lurid torrent of smoke, but in the 
dark the ruddy flame rolling in volumes carries rocks 
into the deep level sea with a horrible clatter. "Tis 
that snake-formed monster that sends up from beneath 
these most dreadful founts of fire, — a prodigy mar- 
vellous to beliold, and a wonder even to hear of from 
passers by, how that he lies imprisoned between the 
dark-leaved heights of Aetna and the plain below, 
and his rocky bed, furrowing all his back, galls him 
as he lies upon it. Zeus, be it my fortune ever 
to please thee, who frequentest this mountain, the 
forehead of a fruitful land ! For the neighbouring 
city of the same name 1 hath been ennobled by its 
illustrious founder, when on the race-course at the 
Pythian festival the herald mentioned it in his loud 
proclamation, on behalf of Hiero victorious with the 
chariot. Now to seafaring 2 men the first welcome 
is, that on setting out a favourable breeze for the 
voyage should come to them ; for it is likely that in 



1 Aetna, founded by Hiero, b.c. 476, three years after the great 
eruption of Etna, so graphically described above. By his recent victory 
Hiero is said to have done credit to his new city. 

2 Or " ship-borne.' ' 



74 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [35-46 

the end also they will obtain a better passage home. 1 
And so reason gives us to expect that after these 
successes Aetna will hereafter be famed for victories 
in horsemanship, and become the theme of praise in 
the music of banquets. Phoebus, god of Lycia 
and ruler of Delos, and who lovest the spring Cas- 
taly on thy Parnassus ! Mayest thou consent in thy 
wisdom to bring about these blessings, that the land 
may be famed for a noble race of men. 2 For from 
the gods alone come all the means for mortal deeds of 
valour ; by him men are born poets, and strong in 
hand, and eloquent in tongue. Now I, in my endea- 
vour to sing the praises of that hero, trust that I 
shall not hurl my brass-tipped dart as it were 
beyond the company of the spectators, by a violent 
jerk of the hand: but that by a long throw I may 
pass my rivals. 3 I would that his whole life may 
have, as now, a straight course of prosperity and an 
ample endowment of wealth, 4 and allow him to for- 

1 The best reading seems to be kolv re\evr§. <j>eprepov v6<ttov r6ye?v 
(Mommsen gives icaX re\evr$). 

2 Perhaps for voa) riQefxev we should read v6y re 6'fiev (i.e. t QetvaC) 
as the aorist seems almost necessary. The re next following I take to 
be exegetical. I cannot accept Dr. Donaldson's interpretation of the 



3 Pindar desires not to fall into a fulsome or excessive praise of 
Hiero, but merely to surpass, t.t, to be preferred to, the rival poets at 
Hiero' s court, Simonides and Bacchylldes. For the simile of the 
javelin see Nem. vii. 71. 

4 Lit., " would that all time may so direct his prosperity and the gift 
of possessions.' ' Such a sentence, to read like English, can only be 
paraphrased. The " sufferings" alluded to refer to a physical infirmity 
under which Hiero laboured. 



46 ~ 60 ] PYTHIAN ODE I. 75 

get his sufferings. Truly it will remind him at what 
fights he was present in the wars with courageous 
heart, when (he and his citizens) obtained by the 
hands of the gods an honour such as no one of the 
Hellenes has culled, a glorious crown of wealth. 
But on the late occasion it was by following the 
way of Philoctetes that he went to war 1 ; and in a 
time of strait, proud though he was, a certain man 
could court his favour. 'Twas thus they say that 
god-like heroes came to bring away from Lemnos 
the archer-son of Poean when afflicted with an 
ulcer; 2 who sacked the city of Priam, and brought 
an end of all their toils for the Greeks, though with 
a body powerless to walk, but such was the decree of 
fate. And so to Hiero may the god prove a sup- 
porter for time yet to come, giving him the attain- 
ment of all he desires ! 

But now, my Muse, comply with my request to 
sing also at the palace of Dinomenes 3 in acknowledg- 
ment of this victory with four horses. And surely a 
father's winning of the prize is a joy not alien to a 
son. Come then, I say, let us in the next place 
invent a friendly hymn for the king of Aetna, for 



1 Viz., as an invalid. Hiero had been appealed to by the governor 
of Cumae (whom he alludes to in /ecu ris ioov fieyahdvcop) to assist him 
against the Tyrrhenians, whom accordingly he had defeated in the year 
of this Pythian victory. 

2 Philoctetes, when disabled by the gangrene in his foot. 

3 The son of Hiero, and king of the new city of Aetna. 



76 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [61-70 

whom Hiero founded that city with god-built 1 free- 
dom, according to the laws of the Hyllic rule ; but 
the descendants of Pamphylus, and those of the 
Heraclids who dwell under the heights of Taygetus, 
prefer to remain always in the Doric institutions of 
Aegimius. 2 And they lived at Amyclae in pros- 
perity, setting out from Pindus, and came to dwell 
with high renown in the land of the Tyndaridae 
with the white steeds ; and great was their glory in 
war. Zeus, with whom is the issue of all things, 
grant that an equally prosperous lot by the waters of 
the Amenas 3 may be awarded with due discrimina- 
tion by the true report of men, 4 both to the citizens 
and their kings for all time. With thy aid one who 
is the leader of a people, and gives instructions to his 
son, by holding in regard constitutional government 
may turn their minds unto concord and peace. 5 



1 That is, sanctioned or instituted by heaven. Pindar is fond of the 
the epithet O^fxaros. 

2 Hiero brought to the new city Dorians from the Peloponnesus, of 
the three tribes called Hyllaei, Dymanes, and Pamphyli, though only 
two are expressly mentioned. The sense seems to be, that though the 
Hyllic model was adopted as the leading principle of the constitution, 
freedom was allowed to those who preferred to adhere to their own 
customs. — For the occupation of Amyclae by the Heraclidae on their 
return from Upper Hellas, see Isthm. vi. 14. 

3 That is, in the new city of Aetna. 

4 Lit., " (grant) that the true report of men may ever distinguish " 
(i.e., from a false or unreal prosperity) " such a lot for citizens and 
kings by the water of Amenas." 

6 Even the different tribes of Dorians, though each is jealous of its 
own laws, may live in peace under the wise rule of Hiero and his son, 
which is that of laovofxla rather than an absolute government. 



71-82] PYTHIAN ODE I. 77 

Grant, I beseech, thee, my prayer, son of Cronus, 
that the war-party 1 of the Carthaginian and Tyr- 
rhenian hosts may remain quietly at home, now that 
they have witnessed the discomfiture of their fleet 
before Cumae, — the fate they endured through their 
defeat by the ruler of the Syracusans, who flung into 
the sea the flower of their youth from their quick- 
sailing vessels, delivering Hellas 2 from the heavy yoke 
of slavery. I shall win 3 from Salamis as a return the 
thanks of the Athenians ; at Sparta I will speak of 
the fight before Cithaeron ; in both of which the Medes 
with the crooked bows were beaten. But by the well- 
watered shore of the Himeras (I shall have my 
reward) in paying 4 to the sons of Dinomenes the 
tribute of a song, which they earned by their valour, 
when the enemy had been beaten in the fight. If 
you speak within due bounds, 5 comprising in brief 
the sum of many things, less cavil follows from men ; 

1 Lit., " the war-cry." The Carthaginians (see Nem. ix. 28) were 
meditating an invasion of Syracuse. 

2 The Italian Greeks, or Magna Graecia. 

3 Mommsen reads epe'o/xai, which stands in a strange contrast with 
ipsa) in the next sentence. Still I doubt if aptoixai is right (MSS. 
alp€o/j,ai). It may be possible to render ipeofiai thus : " I will ask of 
Salamis a reward on behalf of the Athenians," i.e., 'I will ask it to 
show due gratitude for being freed by Athens. It is well known that 
at and e are often confounded in MSS. 

4 TeAecrcus, i.e., reAeVas, in which case apcofxai fjuadov must be sup- 
plied from above. Dr. Donaldson takes it for the second person of the 
optative, as if the poet addressed himself. The general meaning is, 
11 As the battle of Salamis brings glory to Athens, Plataja to Sparta, 
so the battle of Himera (Herod, vii. 165) to the Syracusans." The 
Dinomenes here mentioned was the father of Hiero. 

5 If a poet observes moderation in his praises. 



78 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [82-96 

for a gloomy feeling of dislike blunts our expecta- 
tions of soon hearing yet more. And what the 
citizens say 1 gives secret pain to the mind princi- 
pally when the merits of others is the theme. But 
nevertheless, — as it is better to be envied than to be 
pitied, — let pass no opportunity of doing good ; 
direct your people by the helm of justice, and point 
your tongue on the anvil of truth. If aught even of 
trifling import passes swiftly by, 2 it comes with great 
weight from you. You are the dispenser of many 
things, and there are many trusty witnesses both of 
the right and the wrong. But, while you remain in 
the temper that happily flourishes in you, if you care 
at all to hear at all times a pleasing report of your- 
self be not too much troubled about expenses. 3 Let 
go, like a pilot, your sail to the wind. Be not 
deceived, my friend, by plausible words of cunning. 
The posthumous verdict of public opinion alone indi- 
cates the life of departed men both to historians 4 and 
to poets. Croesus' character for kindness is not for- 
gotten ; but him who burnt men alive in the brazen 
bull, Phalaris, relentless in mind, a hateful report 

1 aa-rwv cwoa, " the gossip of the citizens," or what we hear them 
say about others. 

2 As a rumour or a word uttered, which is often said to be borne on 
wings, etc. The poet's meaning may be illustrated by the common- 
places of our so-called " Queen's speeches." 

3 Hiero seems to have had a bad name for parsimony ; though this 
may only be a hint for greater liberality towards poets. 

4 He probably means the \oyoiroiol, on whom see the note on Nem. 
vi. 30. 



96-100] PYTHIAN ODE I. 79 

everywhere holds ; nor do the lutes in halls 1 admit 
him to their gentle converse for the themes of boys. 
The enjoyment of prosperity is the first of things to 
be desired ; to be well spoken of is the next best lot 
in life; but the man who has met with both, and 
realised them, has recived the highest crown of all. 

1 Lit., "under roofs," as opposed to the open-air music of the comus 
or at heroes' tombs, etc. For Koivooviav I should certainly read 
Koivtoviq, like Bex^^ai riva ttoKel. By im'&uv the recitations by boys 
are meant. See Ar. Pac. 1266, seqq. Nemea iii. 11. 



80 



ODE II. 

This ode was composed in honour of the same 
Hiero, but a little earlier in date, viz., B.C. 477 or 
476. Though, classed among the Pythian odes, it is 
believed to commemorate a victory gained at the 
Theban Iolaia or Heracleia. A part of the ode, 
which is a very difficult one, is taken up with Hiero's 
chivalrous conduct in deterring Anaxilaus, the tyrant 
of Rhegium, from his intended attack on the Locri 
Epizephyrii in the southern extremity of Italy. Dr. 
Donaldson infers that the ode was sent from Thebes 
to Syracuse, where it was sung at Hiero's palace in 
Ortygia. 

SUMMAEY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

Greatness of Syracuse, and of its king who has done 
honour to it by the present victory, won through the special 
favour of the gods. — Gratitude of the Locrians for being saved 
by Hiero from the horrors of captivity. — Legend of Ixion, in- 
troduced as a warning against the crime of ingratitude. — His 
monstrous progeny, the Centaurs. — Pindar's protest against 
being called a flatterer because he praises Hiero. — He is un- 
hurt by the accusations of rival poets, whom he compares to 
cunning foxes and tricksy apes. 

Great city of Syracuse ! the sacred abode of Ares 
deep in war, divine nursing-place of heroes and 
steeds rejoicing in steel; to you I come bringing 



3 " 20 J PYTHIAN ODE II. 81 

from my own beauteous Thebes this strain, the wel- 
come tidings of a four-horse chariot-race that shook 
the very earth, — one in which Hiero of the well-built 
car proved himself the best, and decked Ortygia with 
crowns seen from afar, 1 the residence of the river- 
goddess Artemis ; for by her kindly aid it was that 
he broke in those spangle-reined colts, taking them 
gently in hand. For on them the arrow-pouring 
maid with both hands, and Hermes who takes part in 
the contest, places the glistening trappings whene'er 
Hiero yokes to the polished car and rein-guided 
wheels his sturdy steeds, invoking the aid of the 
widely-ruling lord of the uplifted trident. Now to 
different kings different poets pay the tribute of 
well- sounding song as a reward of valour. Many a 
time the good words of the Cyprians are loudly 
raised in honour of their Cinyras, whom the golden- 
tressed Apollo loved with all his heart, the familiar 
priest 2 of Aphrodite ; and the gratitude of friends, 
repaying him for his good deeds, and holding him in 
regard as a god, leads them (to sing his praise). 
But of you, son of Deinomenes, 3 the maiden 
daughter of the Locrian in the west sings as she 
sits before her door, (rescued) by your power from 
war's bewildering toils, and able to look round 

1 Either when carried aloft, perhaps on a pole, in the procession 
called arT€<pai/7](popia, or suspended on the facade of a temple or palace. 

2 The phrase comes very near to our term " domestic chaplain." 

3 Hiero, who had prevented an attack being made by Anaxilas on 
the Locri Epizephyrii. 

6 



82 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [21-35 

her without fear. 1 And it was, as men say, by the 
express order of the gods that Ixion tells this to 
mortals, 2 as he writhes and sprawls on that moving 
wheel, to repay one's benefactor, requiting him with 
kindly returns. And too true a lesson did he learn ; 
for having received the privilege of a life of happi- 
ness with the friendly Cronidae, he found his pros- 
perity too great too bear, when with infatuate mind 
he became enamoured of Hera, whom the glad bed 
of Zeus had taken for its own. Thus his conceit 3 
drave him to an act of enormous folly ; but the man 
soon suffered his deserts, and received an exquisite 
torture. And his two faults are the causes of all his 
pains; the one, that this hero was the very 
first to introduce to mortal men the murder of 
kin not unaccompanied by cunning; 4 and the 
other, that in the marriage chambers in the vast 
recesses of air he tempted the virtue of the wife 
of Zeus; whereas a man ought ever to see 
that everything is measured according to his own 
standard. 5 But a marriage contrived to lead 

1 Lit., " from hostile toils perplexing through your power looking 
safely." 

2 Viz., that gratitude for services done is a positive duty, the viola- 
tion of which will be punished. But the precise point of this very 
marked allusion to Ixion is not certain, and has been variously inter- 
preted. The ingratitude of Anaxilas to Hiero may be meant ; see Dr. 
Donaldson's Introduction. 

3 Or, perhaps " lewdness," which is a common sense of vfipis. 

* The S6\ios or €K&v <p6vos, as opposed to the &kooi> or accidental. 
We are here strongly reminded of the Cain and Abel in the Scriptures. 

6 This has reference to a man's marrying according to his station, to 
which the proverb rty kclto. aavrhv e\a was more commonly applied. 



35-45] PYTHIAN ODE II. 83 

him from his purpose 1 plunged even a suppliant at 
once into a sea of trouble. For lie lay with a 
shadowy form, pursuing the dear delusion, ignorant 
man as he was ; for it had been made to resemble in 
form the daughter of Uranus' son Cronus, most 
exalted of heavenly goddesses, and the hands of 
Zeus had fashioned it as a trap for him, a fair mis- 
chief. And thus he gained for himself that four- 
spoked wheel, his own destruction ; and having fallen 
into chains without escape he took on himself that 
universal message unto man. 2 Without beauty of 
form 3 a monstrous offspring did she bring forth, 
unique in kind and parentage, — one that receives 
honour neither among men nor by the customs of the 
gods. Him she brought up 4 and named Kentaurus; 
he in his turn coupled with the Magnesian mares in 
the valleys of Pelion, and from that union was born 



1 Viz., an e?5ooAor/, or wraith, to turn his attention from the true 
Hera. This is generally rendered very differently, "the lawless 
couch." As for the words irorl koI tov V/coj/0', we must conclude, if 
they are to mean anything, that they signify nal rbv irpoaiKropa, "even 
one who was a suppliant," which Ixion was fabled to be for expiation 
from his deed of murder ; Aesch. Eum., 435. Dr. Donaldson reads 
TTore. Boeckh proposed kcl\ rbu kn6v6\ Schneidewin na\ ibv a \6u6% 
others 7roTt koItov lkovt. — kclkSttis a9p6a is hard to render ; it is some- 
thing like our familiar phrase " a heap of mischief." I have rendered 
it with reference to a body falling plump into the sea, as Theocr. xiii. 
50, a meteor falls ad poos iv Tt6vrup. 

2 Mentioned in ver. 24 supra. 

3 Lit., "without the Graces," who were supposed to impart beauty 
at birth. Compare Arist. Pac. 41. 

* Monstrous or unnatural or imperfect births were generally exposed 
and allowed to die. The name Cenlaur, it will be noticed, is from 
KtvTeiv avpav, in the sexual sense of j/e<f>eAa avvoinziv. 



84 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [46-60 

a strange host like to both parents, — in the lower 
parts to the mother, in the upper to the father. The 
god accomplishes for himself every end after con- 
ceiving it, — that god who overtakes even the winged 
eagle and passes by the dolphin in his course through 
the sea ; l many a proud man too does he bend, while 
to others he gives imperishable glory. However, it 
is my part to avoid the violent bite of evil-speaking; 2 
for I have seen, though afar off, 3 the slanderous 
Archilochus for the most part in difficulties, when he 
tried to feed on heavily- worded enmities. 4 But the 
being wealthy, with such luck as fate sends us, is 
wisdom's best gift. 5 Now you so possess it as to 
show plainly (your right use of it) through the 
liberality of your mind, lord supreme over many 
well- crowned streets and a numerous host. And if 
any one says, that any other prince of the olden 

1 The sense is, " the god quickly accomplishes every plan he has 
once conceived.' ' 

2 " The connection of thought will be, i I do not wish to abuse 
Anaxilans (Archilochus never gained anything by abusing his enemies), 
but still I must say, that wealth is best when you have the good for- 
tune to possess wisdom besides, as Hiero does.' " — Donaldson. 

3 That is, though born long after him, — too long, in fact, for Pindar 
to have seen him at all. 

* "From battening on malicious calumnies." — Donaldson. 

fi A very obscure sentence, both as to construction and meaning. I 
have taken rvxrj tt6t/jlov like tvxv Oeov, to signify fortune sent by a 
man's lot or destiny. What this has to do with o-o<pia, a man's own 
natural or acquired wisdom, it is not easy to explain. The alternative 
is, to construe avv rvxy ttStiuov aocplas, which Donaldson adopts from 
Dissen ; and so Mommsen punctuates the passage. Perhaps the poet 
speaks of a " wise use " of money, in the sense of a frugal use, which 
others called parsimony. Hence too the allusion to the "liberal 
mind." 



60 " 74 ] PYTHIAN ODE II. 85 

time in Hellas ever was superior to you in possessions 
and in the creditable use of them, he enters the lists 
to no purpose in the vain conceit of his heart. But 
I will ascend the flower-crowned prow to sing aloud 
of your virtues. Your valour in youth is attested 
by your courage in dread wars, from which I assert 
that you obtained that boundless glory of yours, 
partly in fighting with steed-impelling heroes, partly 
in leading on infantry ; while your counsels in later 
years afford me a safe theme to praise you on every 
account. All hail to you ! This present song is sent 
you like Phoenician merchandise across the hoary 
sea ; but the Castoreum 1 in Aeolian tones regard with 
favour when it comes, accepting 2 the compliment of 
the seven- stringed lute. Be what you are, now that 
you have learnt your true character from me. 3 An 
ape is pretty with boys, ever pretty; but Rhada- 
manthus has prospered because he has had the luck 
to possess a mind that has borne him fruits sound 
and true, and takes no pleasure in his inmost heart 

1 The song in honour of the victory in the chariot-race. " It is 
clear from the words which follow that this ode was sent by some pri- 
vate opportunity, and that it was not the Castoreum or song of victory 
which was subsequently sent, when the procession returned from 
Thebes." — Dr. Donaldson. 

2 &uT€a6cu takes an accusative, as t^ evepyerav vTra.vTiot.aai, Pyth. 
v. 41, ifj.hu \4xos auTiScaaav, II. i. Mommsen places a comma after 
Xapiv. 

3 He seems to say, " Go on in .the way I have pointed out, as the 
road of glory, and do not listen to other flatterers who would tell you 
differently." As in 01. xiii. 26, yevoio [must here stand for efr/s. The 
allusion to flatterers under the figure of an ape, which amuses boys 
only, is as well-marked as it is severe. 



86 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [75-86 

in deceit, — such flatteries as by the arts of whisperers 
ever attend men in this life. The secret suggestions 
of calumny are an evil difficult to contend with to 
both parties, 1 closely resembling the dispositions of 
foxes. But for the winsome beast what is there to 
win 2 in this ? For, like the cork above the net, 
while the rest of the tackle is engaged in fishing 
deep in the sea, I am unwetted by the brine. It is 
impossible for a crafty citizen to utter a word which 
shall have weight at court ; but still, in his fawning 
upon all, he tries ever to get up cunning plots. 3 I 
partake not in his impudence ; be it mine to love my 
friend ; 4 but in dealing with an enemy I will act as 
an enemy, and run across his path like a wolf, tread- 
ing now here now there with crooked course. For 
every form of government a plain-speaking man is 

1 Viz., the slanderer and the slandered. In what follows, areves, as 
an adverb, conveys no intelligible sense. The elision would be very 
awkward in dpycus arevecr' for drwecn, but this would give a fair sense, 
"obstinate" or "persistent tempers," and Aeschylus actually has the 
combination dpyas areve7s, Agam. 71. Dr. Donaldson (in the Journal 
of Classical and Sacred Philology, ii. p. 213) would read bpy)\v drey?}, 
" in their intractable temper." 

2 The play on /cep5o? and KeptiaAeov must be preserved in the transla- 
tion. The sense is, " what has he to gain, if he cannot hurt me, but 
does hurt himself." There is a similar play on €\k6jx€j/oi and €\kos in 
ver. 90-1. 

8 To please one, he is always trying to malign another. The phrase 
used is very remarkable, and seems to mean o-koAicl imfiovXevci, lit., 
"he is twisting broken (or crooked, bent) sticks," or perhaps, 
"making a hook (to a sticky/' 

4 That is, jjl^ 6a>ir€V€iv. He goes on to say, that he will treat an 
enemy as an enemy, and not scruple to use sly means to overthrow him. 
The figure seems borrowed from wolves running across and throwing 
down beasts of burden, etc. in a cavalcade ; dodging them, as we should 



87-96] PYTHIAN ODE II. 87 

best, — with a despotic rule, and when either the im- 
petuous multitude or the educated few have the 
guardianship of the state. But we ought not to con- 
tend against the god, who upholds at one time the 
interests of this party, at another time gives great 
glory to others. 1 Yet not even this 2 cheers the 
heart of the envious. They measure by more than 
the average standard, and so inflict the pain of a 
standing sore 3 in their own hearts, before they have 
obtained all they aspire to in their thoughts. To 
bear lightly the yoke one has taken on one's neck is 
a help : to kick against the goad, be assured, is a 
slippery course. 4 Be it my lot to consort with the 
high-born, and to please them. 

1 Pindar is speaking of the favour which he and his rivals have at 
different times enjoyed at Hiero's court. 

2 Viz., the partial favour they have found. 

3 e\n€crOai contains a play on <e\kos, which I have endeavoured to 
represent. It seems to govern a genitive like exeo-Qcu, AafjiPdveadai, 
airrea-dai, in the sense of "pulling at a measuring line" so as to draw 
it straight. 

4 This seems addressed to the poet's rivals, who at present have lost 
favour at court, and by their own fault, as he seems to intimate. 



88 



ODE III. 

To the same Hiero, to commemorate a victory with 
the single (or riding) horse, B.C. 482 ; a previous 
victory having been gained by him with the same 
racer, Pherenicus, B.C. 486. As Hiero assumed the 
title of King of Syracuse in 478 (see ver. 70), and 
King of Aetna in 476 (ver. 69), this ode must have 
been composed long after the event ; a custom not 
uncommon with Pindar ; see 01. XI. This ode is 
believed to have been composed on the anniversary 
of either the second or the third Olympiad after the 
event, viz. b.c. 474 or 470, Hiero having died before 
the return of the same year in the next Olympiad. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

The poet wishes that Chiron could be brought back from the 
dead to restore Hiero to health. — The legend of the birth of 
Asclepius after the death of his mother Coronis in child- 
birth, — Asclepius is slain by Zeus for raising a man from 
death. — The poet says that his arrival at Syracuse would have 
been as bright as a star if he could have brought health to 
Hiero. — As it is, he will pray to Demeter, the presiding 
goddess of Sicily, that the king may be restored. — Examples 
of heroes and heroines of old who had to balance adversity 
against prosperity. — The power of poetry to confer fame on 
those who have achieved mighty deeds. 



1-1 8 3 PYTHIAN ODE III. 89 

I could have wished that Chiron the deceased son 
of Philyra (if it is meet to utter from my mouth this, 
the common prayer of all 1 ) were yet living, the 
widely-ruling offspring of Cronus, son of Uranus, and 
that the wild man of the woods was still holding 
rule in the glens of Pelion, with friendly feeling 
towards man, even such as when of old he trained 
that humane artist of limb-comforting anodynes 
Asclepius, the hero who prevented all kinds of 
diseases. The son was he of the daughter of 
Phlegyas, 2 renowned for his steeds : but before she 
was delivered of the full-grown child by the aid of 
Eileithya, attendant on mothers, she was slain by 
Artemis with her golden bow, and descended to 
the abode of Hades in her chamber 3 by the 
crntrivance of Apollo. Seldom does the anger 
of the sons of the gods prove vain. For she 
had slighted him in the folly of her mind, and 
taken up with another marriage without the 
consent of her father, having before cohabited 
with the long-haired Phoebus, and being already 
pregnant by that pure god. Nor waited she for the 
arrival of the marriage-feast, nor for the sound of 
the full- voiced hymeneal songs, such as virgin-com- 

1 If we, i.e., the poet, may take on ourselves the expression of a com- 
mon wish, or that of the citizens generally. 

2 Coronis. The literal rendering is, "him before Phlegyas' 
daughter had brought to his full time," etc. 

3 The sense is, "she died in giving premature birth to a child." 
The child itself was saved, but miraculously, inf. 43. 



90 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [18-34 

pardons of the same age are wont to intone 1 with 
evening strains ; but in sooth she took a fancy for 
absent things, as many have done before her. But 
that class is the most foolish among men, which 
throws discredit on things at home and looks for 
what is afar, pursuing vain objects with futile hopes. 
Such a strong infatuate passion the temper of the 
beautifully- robed Coronis had conceived ; for she 
shared the bed of a stranger who had arrived from 
Arcadia. But the eye of the watchful god was 
upon her; and although at the time he was 2 at 
the sheep-receiving Pytho, yet was the god of that 
temple, Loxias, informed of it by his own unerring 
conscience, 3 following the guidance of his judgment, 
his omniscient mind; and it deals not in false- 
hoods, nor can any god or mortal deceive it either in 
actions or intentions. So then, aware of her mar- 
riage with the stranger Ischys son of Elatus, and 
her impious deceit, he sent his sister, raging with 
furious resentment, 4 to Lacereia ; for she had lived 

1 viroKovpl(e<T9ai means "allusively to hint at disguised meanings ;" 
for this, as we know from existing examples, was the nature of 
iirieaAdiiiia. — The sense is, " Coronis, in marrying without her father's 
knowledge, with the stranger Ischys, did not wait for the customary 
ceremonies in open weddings. She was not content with what she had 
(i.e. a god for a lover), hut was enamoured with what she had not, a 
mortal husband." The last sentence is expressed proverbially. 

2 rSara-ais is a synonym of tvx<*>v, Aeolice. In Pyth. iv. 5, Apollo 
is expressly spoken of as " not absent at the time from Pytho." 

3 Koivkv, koii/wvos, here means his confidant, conscience, or partner 
in his dealings and actions, i.e. his mind ; or perhaps rather "the com- 
municator" of things without. 

4 Not as Elteldvia, Zucina, but as toxeaipa, the goddess of vengeance. 



34-52] PYTHIAN ODE III. 91 

when a maid by the high banks of the Boebian lake ; 
but some power of evil had turned her to harm and 
proved her ruin ; and many of the neighbours suf- 
fered for it, and were cut off with her ; and so it 
happens that fire from one spark darts into and 
destroys a great wood. 1 But when the relations 
had laid the girl on the wooden pile, and the con- 
suming flame of Hephaestus had surrounded it, 
Apollo then said, " I can no longer endure in my heart 
to destroy mine own offspring by a most pitiable 
death with the grievous suffering of the mother/ ' 
Thus he spake, and at the first stride reached the 
child and caught him up from the corpse ; 2 and the 
burning pyre parted its flame for him. So then 
he brought him to the Magnesian Centaur (Chiron), 
to teach him to heal the various distressing mala- 
dies for man. Accordingly, all who came to him 
afflicted with 3 self-grown sores, or having their limbs 
wounded with polished brass or far-thrown stone, or 
their bodies weakened by summer heat or winter 
cold, — all of these he relieved and delivered, some 
from one, some from another kind of ache, treating 
pome by soothing charms, some by composing 
draughts, or by attaching amulets to their limbs in 

1 The sentiment seems general. The meaning probably is, that 
many deaths in childbirth took place about the same time. 

2 The origin of this story may perhaps be an Indian suttee, or 
widow-burning. Births are known to have taken place under those 
horrible circumstances. 

8 Lit., "participators in." 



92 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [53-69 

every part ; while others lie set right by operations. 
But even skill is hampered by love of gain. Even 
Asclepius was induced by a magnificent reward of 
gold glittering in his hands, to bring back from 
death a man who had been already overtaken by it : 
and therefore did the son of Cronus hurl the bolt 
with his hands through them both, and quickly 
destroy the breath in their breasts ; and the gleam- 
ing lightning inflicted on them thpir fate. JEt is 
one's duty to seek from the gods what is reasonable 
with human desires, knowing what is before our very 
feet, 1 and of what condition we are. Be not anxious, 
my soul, for an immortal life, 2 but draw only on 
practicable resources. Had the discreet ChirQn still 
been living in his grotto, and our honey-voiced 
hymns had wrought any charm in his mind ; I had 
persuaded him 3 even now to furnish for worthy men 
a healer of their feverish complaints, — some son of 
Apollo, or even Apollo himself. 4 And then would I 
have gone in a ship cleaving the Ionian main, to the 
fount of Arethuse where dwells my Aetnean friend, 

1 Knowing that instant death may be the punishment of presump- 
tion. Compare Pyth. x. 62, apiraKiav (ppovrida rav irap tco$6s. 

2 Do not expect, or desire, that Hiero, though he may be cured of 
his malady, can live for ever. 

3 Of course, iridop may equally well be rendered " they (the hymns) 
would have," etc. 

4 Lit., "some one called (the son) of Leto'sson, or of the father" 
(Zeus). A common title for a physician was ttcus 'AttSWowos, as we 
sometimes call an apothecary " a son of Aesculapius." The custom 
arose from certain crafts being practised by certain families, who bore 
the patronymic title, e.g. as the Homeridae, Nem. ii. 1. 



70-87] PYTHIAN ODE III. 93 

wlio rules Syracuse, a king courteous to the citizens, 
not jealous of the good, and looked up to as a father 
by strangers. And! if I had but landed there, bring- 
ing with me a twofold joy, golden health and a 
comus-song as a jewel to the crown in the Pythian 
contests, which erst the horse Pherenicus won by 
being first in the race at Oirrha ; then I say I should 
have arrived, after crossing the deep sea, a more far- 
shining light to him than a star in the sky. But I 
desire to add a prayer to Demeter, 1 to whom, to- 
gether with Pan, the maidens dance and sing before 
my door, that awful goddess, with nightly worship. 
But if, my Hiero, you can appreciate the true point 
of sayings, you remember learning from those who 
have gone before, The immortals award to men a 
couple of tvoes with every good. These evils then the 
foolish cannot bear with resignation, but only the 
well-born, by turning the fair side outwards. 3 But 
on you the lot of happiness attends ; for undoubtedly 
the mighty power of Destiny regards with favour, if 
any one among men, a monarch, the ruler of hosts. 3 
Life was not without reverses either with Peleus the 

1 The guardian power of Sicily, where she was worshipped with her 
daughter Persephone with torch-light honours. — In the next clause 
Oafxa means apa, as elsewhere in Pindar, and is to he construed with 
avp Tlavi. 

2 " A proverbial expression, borrowed from the custom of turning 
old clothes." — Donaldson. 

3 Though Hiero has affliction (his illness) to bear, still he has a 
larger share of happiness than most men, and therefore on the whole 
the balance is in his favour. 



94 THE ODES OF FINDAR. [87-103 

son of Aeacus or with, godlike Cadmus ; yet these 
are said to have had the highest happiness of all 
mortal men, in that they heard the gold-snooded 
Muses sing, the one on the mountain, 1 the other in 
seven-gated Thebes, when he wedded fair- faced 8 
Harmonia, and the other the famed daughter of pro- 
phetic Nereus. And the gods feasted with them 
both, and they saw the royal sons of Cronus on their 
golden thrones, and received from them marriage- 
presents ; and by the grace of Zeus passing out of 
their former troubles 3 they recovered their spirits. 
But again in after-time his three daughters by their 
sharp sufferings deprived Cadmus of a portion of his 
happiness ; albeit that Father Zeus came to the 
much- desired couch of the white-armed Thyone. 4 
But the son of Peleus, whom alone the immortal 
Thetis gave birth to at Phthia, having died in war 
by a bow- shot, 5 when burnt on the fire raised a 
lament from the Danai. But if any man by his 
intelligence has found the way of truth, he yet 



1 Peleus had his marriage with Thetis celebrated in Chiron's cave, 
the Muses with the other gods being present. 

2 fioobTris was probably an ancient epithet of the cow-goddess Hera, 
and hence it came, by a catachresis, to signify queenly, or handsome. 

3 This alludes to the banishment of Cadmus from Phoenicia. The 
poet is illustrating, by the cases of these heroes, the doctrine of the 
alternations of happiness and misfortune. 

4 Semele. This again was a set-off to the misconduct of the other 
daughters, Ino, Agave, and Autonbe. 

6 In our Homeric text — certainly different from Pindar's " Homer," 
— this event is just alluded to, as a prediction, in II. xxii. 358. It is 
however enlarged upon in Od. xxiv. 55, seqq. 



103-115] PYTHIAN ODE III. 95 

requires to be prosperous, 1 obtaining it from the gods. 
Yet different currents of high-soaring winds blow at 
different times. Man's happiness does not go on 
very long, when it comes to him in excessive abun- 
dance. 2 Small among the small, great I will be 
among the great. "Whatever fortune may attend 
me, I will school myself in my mind to bear, main- 
taining it to the best of my power. And if the god 
should hold out to me the prospect of luxurious 
wealth, 3 I have good hope that I shall obtain lofty 
glory in times far distant. Nestor and the Lycian 
Sarpedon, the talk of men, we know of from the 
loudly recited epics, 4 such as clever artists have fitted 
together. Merit is made enduring by famous songs ; 
but few find it easy to attain them. 

1 Even if he possesses aocpia, he yet wants tux??, to be perfectly- 
happy. 

2 Or, with oppressive weight. 

8 This may be a hint to his patrons for more liberal pay. As 
" money makes the man" (Isthm. ii. 11), wealth, according to Pindar, 
is a condition of attaining fame. Possibly there is irony in the 
sentiment. 

4 Pindar does not say, " we read of them in Homer" (for even in 
his time it is very unlikely that any written text existed) ; but he says, 
"we know of them from the epics of the rhapsodists." That these 
characters occur in our Homeric text, is no proof whatever that that 
was the original source whence they were known to fame. 



96 



ODE IV. 

To Arcesilas, King of Cyrene, in honour of a 
chariot-race gained by him B.C. 466. This is a most 
interesting and beautiful ode, containing as it does a 
very full account of the adventures of the heroes in 
the Argonautic expedition. This subject was intro- 
duced, as has been supposed, because a relation of 
the King, one Demophilus, who had been banished 
from court on some suspicion of disaffection, and for 
whose restoration Pindar intercedes (ver. 293), 
claimed descent from Jason. As the ode was sung 
at Cyrene, the theme was also appropriate, inas- 
much as that colony had been founded from Thera 
(Santorin) by one of the Dorian Argonauts, Eu- 
phemus ; and the Kings of Cyrene had descended, 
through Battus, from the Argonauts. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

Invocation of the Muses to sing the glories of Arcesilas' 
ancestors, who had become by command of the oracle Kings 
of Cyrene. — The prophecy of Medea to the same effect, de- 
livered at Thera long before. — The meeting of Euphemus 
with Triton in the desert of Libya, and the present of the 
fateful clod which was to become the seed of a new city. — 
Battus is declared King of Cyrene by the priestess at Delphi, 
in accordance with the above prophecy. — His descendant has 



1 " 1 °] PYTHIAN ODE IV. 97 

now won the prize at Pytho. — The origin of the Argonautic 
expedition in the fears of King Pelias, and his desire to get 
rid of his relation Jason, who was the just claimant of the 
throne. — Conference between Jason and Pelias, and the com- 
promise made. — Story of the expedition. — Euphemus marries 
a Lemnian woman, Malache. — Advice to Arcesilas not to 
remove from his court the strong stay he will find in the 
friendship of Demophilus. — Hopes expressed that he may 
return, and prove his gratitude to the King. 

This day, my Muse, you have to stop at the house 
of a friend, the King of Cyrene, famous for its steeds, 
that you may assist Arcesilas in conducting his 
comns, 1 and swell the gale of song owed to the 
children of Latona and to Pytho, where erst the 
priestess, who holds her prophetic seat by the golden 
eagles of Zeus, Apollo not being absent at the time, 2 
declared Battus the colonist of fruitful Libya, that 
he might at once leave the sacred island 3 and found 
a city which should be famous for chariots on a 
white chalky hill, and might recover from oblivion, 4 
in the seventeenth generation, Medea's words uttered 
at Thera, 5 where of old the high-spirited daughter of 

1 It was usual for the victor himself, with a procession of friends 
singing his praises, to pay a visit to some altar or temple ; or his 
friends escorted him home. This was the so-called cotnus, for which 
there is no English term. 

2 See Pyth. iii. 27, and for the story of Battus, Herod, iv. 155, and 
145-7. 

8 Thera (Santorin). Dr. Donaldson renders ws Krio-creiev "that he 
should found," which would rather be m kt'htoi the future optative. I 
have rendered wsasa particle of purpose. 

4 Or perhaps, "take up in his own person." 

6 From ver. 51 it also appears that the prophecy was delivered in 
the island. 



98 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [11-25 

Aeetes, queen of the Colchi, breathed them forth from 
her immortal mouth. For thus she addressed the demi- 
god crew of the warlike Jason. " Hear me, ye sons 
of magnanimous heroes and of gods ! For I tell you 
that from this sea-beaten isle the daughter of 
Epaphus l will some day have planted in her a root 
whence other cities 2 shall spring, the concern of 
men, on the site of the temple of Jupiter Ammon. 
And the short-finned dolphin they shall exchange for 
the swift steed, and ply the rein in place of the oar, 
and drive the storm-footed car. 3 And it shall come 
to pass that Thera shall some day be the metropolis of 
great cities, by that token which once, at the mouth 
of the Triton-lake, Euphemus, descending from the 
prow, received at the hands of a god, when in the 
likeness of a man he offered him as a hospitable gift 
a clod of earth. (Such was the omen ;) and as a 
sanction of it Father Zeus the son of Cronus pealed 
forth a propitious thunder-clap. For Triton came 
suddenly upon them 4 when they were hanging to 
the ship the bronze-fluked anchor, the fastener of the 
swift Argo ; (for twelve days before this we had 



1 Libya. Aesch. Suppl. 310. 

2 Cyrene was to be the metropolis of five states, four of them sprung 
from and dependent on her. Pindar appears to have been misinformed 
as to its exact geographical position, or that of the oasis of Jupiter 
Ammon, which lies at a considerable distance. 

3 The people of Thera, now ignoble fishermen, shall become, at 
Cyrene, famous for victories in the chariot-race. 

* See the note on Pyth. iii. 27. 



26 " 4() ] PYTHIAN ODE IV. 99 

carried our sea-boat over the desert-tract of earth, 
from the ocean, having drawn it on land by my 
advice). It was then that the god who haunts the 
wilds came up to them, having assumed the cheery 
countenance of a venerable man ; and he commenced 
a friendly address, in terms such as well-doers use, 
when they first offer hospitality to strangers on their 
arrival. 1 But in fact the plea of a much-desired 
return prevented us from staying. Then he told us 
that he was Eurypylus, the son of the Earth-holder, 
the immortal Ennosides. 2 And he was aware we 
were pressed for time ; so instantly catching up in his 
right hand a hospitable offering of field-earth that 
chanced to be before him, he sought to give it. 3 Nor 
did the hero refuse to obey him, but leaping on the 
shore and joining hand to hand he received from 
him the fateful clod. But I learn that it was washed 
away from the ship and went into the sea with the 
salt spray that very evening, following the current 
of the watery main. And yet I had frequently 



1 That is, Triton asked us to stay and partake of a banquet. Find- 
ing us in a hurry to go, and unable to wait for any other gift, he 
caught up a clod of earth, and begged our acceptance of that. Medea 
alone seems to have been fully aware that it was a fatalis gleba, — a 
seed, as it were, destined to be planted and to bring forth fruit else- 
where in Libya. 

2 A patronymic formed as from hocris, a shaking of earth. As 
Triton professed himself a son of Poseidon, and Euphemus was also a 
son of the same god (ver. 45), it was natural for Euphemus to receive 
the gift as from the hands of a relation. 

3 That is, he sought for a gift to give us, and could only find a clod 
at hand ; fidarevae faiov dovpai, apirdaas ^iviov apovpas. 



100 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [41-56 

urged the toil-relieving servants to guard it well; 
but their minds had been forgetful. And now that 
imperishable seed of the wide region of Libya is 
strewn on the shore of this island 1 before the proper 
time ; for if Euphemus, returning to sacred Taenarus, 
had thrown it down, at his own home, near the 
underground opening to Hades, — the royal son of 
horse-ruling Poseidon, borne him by Europa, 
daughter of Tityos, by the banks of Oephisus, — 
then in the fourth generation of his descendants his 
race would have taken possession, with the Danai, 
of that wide continent ; 2 for then they would have 
removed from great Lacedaemon and the gulf of 
Argolis and from Mycenae. As it is, however, 
Euphemus shall obtain in marriage with a foreign 
wife 3 a chosen race, who, coming to this island with 
the honour of the gods, 4 shall beget a hero who shall 
be lord of the dark misty plains. Him in due time 
Phoebus in his golden abode shall remind by his 
oracles, when long afterwards he descends into the 
adytum of the Pythian shrine, to bring in a fleet a 



1 The clod was washed up at Thera, the consequence of which was, 
that the colony of Cyrene was planted, as it were, at second-hand, or 
transplanted, from Thera, instead of being founded by Euphemus 
from Sparta direct. 

2 That is, Cyrene would have been founded in Libya by the sons of 
Euphemus in the fourth generation, with a Doric colony, instead of 
the seventeenth, which will now be the case. See ver. 10. 

3 Malache, of Lemnos. See ver. 256. 

4 Probably this means, bringing with them the Carnea, or Doric 
rites of Apollo. The hero mentioned is Battus. 



56 "70] PYTHIAN ODE IV. 101 

great host to tlie rich Nile- garden of the son of 
Cronus. 1 Such was the purport of the verses of 
Medea. 2 The godlike heroes stood motionless in 
sUent amaze when they heard her wise counsels. 
To you, blessed son of Polymnestus, the oracle of 
the Delphian priestess showed by her spontaneous 
call, that you were rightly described in Medea's 
speech. 3 For she, after bidding you hail three times, 
revealed your destiny as King of Cyrene, when you 
were inquiring what release there would be from the 
gods for the impediment in your speech. And in 
sooth long after even now, as in the prime of blush- 
ing 4 spring, Arcesilas flourishes in the eighth descent 
among the posterity of that man. 5 For to him 
Apollo and Pytho have given glory in the chariot- 
race from the Amphictionic founders. I on my part 
will commend him to the Muses, with the story of 
the golden fleece of the ram ; for it was when the 
Minyae sailed in quest of that, that the heaven-sent 
honours of their family were planted. Well then, 
what motive had they for beginning the voyage ? 



1 The oasis of Jupiter Ammon. See the note on ver. 15. 

2 Lit., "the rows of Medea's verses." Before prose-composition was 
introduced, all oracles and prophecies were given in verse. — For $ pa we 
should probably read fy pa, where 1\v represents e<pao-av, as in the 
Homeric ^, dixit, and the Attic ^ 5'b's, etc. 

8 tipdwaev ere iv tovtu \6yq> means, £fjL7]vv(rev or idr]\co(xe ae bpQ&s 
\ey6fievov eV, etc. 

4 The scarlet anemone is meant. See the note on Isthm. iii. 36. 

5 Lit., "an eighth portion to these sons," i.e. eighth in descent from 
Battus. See on Pyth. xii. 11. 



102 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [71-86 

What dangerous enterprise had fastened them with 
strong nails of necessity ? l It had been divinely 
predicted to Pelias, that he should die by the doughty 
sons of Aeolus, either by their hands or by their reso- 
lute counsels ; and an alarming oracle had come to his 
wary mind, delivered at the central point of tree-clad 
mother-earth, " That he must by all means hold in 
great caution the man with one shoe, when he shall 
have come from a homestead on the hills 2 to the far- 
seen land of famed Iolchos, either as a stranger or a 
citizen." 3 And he accordingly came in due time, 
armed with two spears, a magnificent man. The 
dress he wore was of a double kind, the national 
costume of the Magnesians, fitting close to his ad- 
mirable form, while by a leopard skin thrown round 
him he was made proof against the hurtling showers. 
Nor as yet had the glossy clusters of his hair been 
clipped away, but dangled brightly adown his back. 
Forward he went at once, and took his stand among 
the people, putting to the test the resoluteness of his 
unflinching mind, when the crowd was fullest in the 
agora. Him then they failed to recognise ; but some 
one of the reverent-minded 4 went so far as to say, 



i Hence " figere adamantinos clavos," Hor. Carm. iii. 24, 5. 

2 That is, from Chiron's cave. 

s Persons who had lived in exile, but whose family resided in any- 
given city, were called aarS^evoi in respect of that city. (Aesch. 
Suppl. 350.) 

4 Compare Eur. Iph. Taur. 268. 



87_103 ] PYTHIAN ODE IV. 103 

" Surely this cannot be Apollo ; nor yet is lie the 
lord of the brazen car, the husband of Aphrodite. 
As for the sons of Iphimedeia, Otus, and thou, dar- 
ing King Ephialtes, — men say that they died in 
fertile Naxos. And we know that Tityos was caught 
and killed by the swift arrow of Artemis, when it 
sped from her invincible quiver, a warning that men 
should desire to touch the loves that are within 
their power." They then in conversation with each 
other were speaking such words, when on his mules 
and polished car came Pelias in headlong haste ; and 
he was struck with dismay in a moment when he saw 
the well-known shoe upon the right foot only. But 
concealing in his mind his fear, he addressed him : 
" What land, stranger, do you profess to be your 
country ? And who of earth-born mortals gave 
birth to you from an aged womb ? l Tell me your 
race, not disgracing it by odious falsehood." To 
him the hero, taking courage, replied as follows in 
gentle words: "I tell you I bring 2 the instructions 
of Chiron ; for from his grotto I come from Chariclo 
and Philyra, where the virtuous daughters of the Cen- 



1 As the people had thought Jason a god, and admired his fine 
stature, so the King, who knows too well the destiny that awaits him 
from the hated stranger, vents his spite by calling him not only a 
mortal wight, but one of feeble physique. 

2 olveiv is not the future, but an epic form of the aorist, to be 
accented, perhaps, olaew. 



104 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [104-119 

taur reared me. 1 And after completing twenty years 
without saying or doing word or deed to deceive, 2 I 
have returned home to look after the ancient honour 
of my father, which erst Zeus gave to the chieftain 
Aeolus and his sons, now held by no lawful rule. 
For I learn that the godless Pelias, giving way to in- 
fatuated 3 thoughts, has taken it away by force from 
my parents, the original rightful owners. Who, 
when first I saw the light, fearing some outrage on 
the part of an overbearing ruler, got up in the house 
a gloomy funeral for me, as if dead, and amidst the 
lamentations of the women sent me forth concealed 
in purple 4 swathing-bands, making night alone 
conscious of their journey, and gave me to Chiron 
the son of Cronus to rear. But the heads of this 
story you already know. Now therefore, worthy 
citizens, show me plainly the palace of my sires with 
the white steeds ; for, as a son of Aeson and a native, 
I shall hardly be said to have come to the strange 
land of others. As for my name, the divine Centaur 
used to call me Jason b when he addressed me." 



1 See Pyth. iii. 45, where Asclepius also is given to Chiron to bring 
up ; and a third pupil was Achilles. Jason means " healer," from 
iaadai, as Chiron means "handy," in allusion to his skill. 

2 The inference is, "How then should I lie now." 

s Photius: \€vkcl\ </>peVey /mawS/nevai. The epithet may have been 
derived from the physical aspect of the entrails of victims. So we use 
the term "white-livered" for a coward. Others think it borrowed 
from the Homeric cppeo~l tevyaXerjo'i -mdrjcras. II. ix. 119. 

4 A royal colour. 

5 Compare the female name 'Iatrcb, from laaOai, in Ar. Plut. 701. 



120-137] PYTHIAN ODE IV. 105 

Thus he spake ; and entering the house, he was 
recognised by a father's eye, and the tears gushed 
forth from his aged lids ; for he was rejoiced in his 
mind when he saw his distinguished son, 1 the hand- 
somest of men. Then came to them both the 
brothers, on the news of his arrival ; 2 Pheres, leav- 
ing the fountain Hypere'is close at hand, and from 
Messene Amythaon ; quickly too came Admetus and 
Melampus to greet kindly their cousin. And Jason, 
receiving them at a common banquet with honied 
words, prepared for them friendly cheer and de- 
vised 3 every festive amusement, for five whole 
nights and days together culling the sacred flower 
of life's best pleasures. But on the sixth, the 
hero proposed a serious subject to discuss, and com- 
municated the whole matter to his relations from 
the beginning ; and they took his view of the 
case. At once then from their sofas he and they 
arose, and came to the palace of Pelias ; and with 
eager haste they entered and stood waiting. Hear- 
ing their call the king himself came to meet them, 
the offspring of lovely-haired Tyro. And Jason with 
soft voice making the conversation to fall gently on 



i egregium genus, so choice a specimen of humanity, as it were. 

2 Keivov ye (a combination occurring also inf. 243, Nem. viii. 10,) 
means, that they came for his sake, though they would not have taken 
that trouble for another. 

3 ivTavvu seems here the same as tvrvvw, i.e., napaaKevdfa. Below, 
ver. 227, it means rather irrelvu. Some may prefer to render it here, 
" he prolonged the general festivity." 



106 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [138-151 

his ear, 1 laid the foundation of wise words. " Son 
of Poseidon of the Grot, the minds of mortal men 
are but too quick to assent to craft with gain rather 
than to honesty, albeit they come soon to a stern 
reckoning. 2 But it behoves you and me to control 
our tempers and to plan happiness for the future. I 
will say it to one who knows, — a common ancestress 
was mother 3 to Cretheus and the rashly-counselling 
Salmoneus ; and we in our turns were born from 
them in the third generation, 4 and are now alive to 
see the golden might of the sun. Now the Fates 
stand aloof, if there is any feud between relations, 
to hide the shame. 5 It is not meet for us two to 
divide between us the great honour held by our 
forefathers, by brass- wounding swords or javelins, 
(nor is it needful ;) for I on my part give up to you 
the sheep and the herds of tawny cattle and all the 
lands, which you now occupy, having taken them 
from my parents to increase your own wealth. I am 
not much troubled at these things furnishing your 



1 mitem orationem instillans ; a metaphor from oil. Compare 01. 
vi. 76. 

« eirtfiBai/, from iiri(3a(v(a, lit. "the day after the feast," when the 
guests suffered from their intemperance. 

3 fSoia seems to have "been the Sicilian term for " a wife ;" see Plaut. 
Capt. 888. 

4 Pelias was the son of Poseidon and Tyro, the daughter of Salmo- 
neus. Jason was the son of Aeson, whose father was Cretheus. 

5 The sense seems to he, that as the Fates, who usually preside at 
births, do not interfere, or are absent, where family feuds prevail, 
therefore the present arrangement between ourselves is left to our own 
discretion, and not overruled by any superior power. 



152-168] PYTHIAN ODE IV. 107 

family property; but tlie imperial sceptre and the 
throne, on which formerly the son of Gretheus 
sate, and gave upright decisions to his equestrian 
hosts, — of these give full quittance to me, without 
vexation on both sides, lest some worse evil 
should arise from them." So he spoke ; and gently 
too did Pelias address him in reply. "Even 
such will I be ; but now the feeble part of life 
attends me, whereas the flower of your youth has 
lately come to its full bulk; and you are able to 
remove l the wrath of the spirits below ; for Phrixus 
is urgent with us to lay his ghost, 2 making an expe- 
dition to the house of Aeetes, and to bring the deep- 
fleeced hide of the ram, on which he was of old 
brought safe out of the sea and from the impious 
weapons of his step-mother. A strange dream comes 
and tells me this. Already I have consulted the 
oracle at Castaly, whether it be something worth the 
quest ; and it urges me at once to prepare a solemn 
mission in a ship. This task perform for me with ready 
consent, and I swear to resign to you the monarchy 
and the kingdom. Let Zeus, the family god of us 
both, be my witness and give a valid sanction to my 
oath." To this agreement they on their parts 

1 That is, from the family property, over which it broods as a curse. 
This, of course, was a mere trick on the part of Pelias to get rid of 
Jason. 

2 Lit., to bring back, or attend to with due rites, etc. This verb 
(Konifav) is often used of burying the dead, or recovering corpses 
slain in war. See Nem. viii. 44. 



108 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [168-186 

assented and so separated. But Jason himself now 
urged the heralds to make known everywhere that a 
voyage was to be made. At once came the three 
undaunted warrior-sons of Zeus Cronides, of Alcmena 
too and of Leda with the twinkling eyelids ; and two 
heroes wearing high top-knots, of the race of the 
Earth-shaking god, holding valour in honourable 
regard, from Pylos and from the land's end at 
Taenarus ; whose good fame was established 1 (by this 
expedition), Euphemus' and thine, widely-ruling 
Periclymenus. There came too the harpist, gifted 
by Apollo with the art of song, the much-praised 
Orpheus. 2 And Hermes of the golden staff sent two 
sons to the tedious task, the one Echion, the other 
Eurytus, in the manly pride of youth ; and promptly 
they arrived, though dwelling near the base of Pan- 
gaeus. Eight willingly likewise did their father 
Boreas, king of winds, harness quickly with glad- 
some heart Zetes and Calais, men both of them 
rough-backed with glossy wings. And Hera it was 
who enkindled in the demigods that sweet all-per- 
suasive desire for the ship Argo, that not one of 
them should be left out of the expedition and stay at 



1 Yiz. because Euphemus' descendants by a marriage made during 
the expedition (ver. 254) were destined to be the founders of Cyrene. 

2 evaii>7}Tos means " to be spoken of (or made the theme of ahoi, 
tales and legends) in good words." My version rather represents the 
Homeric ttoKvcuvos. These compounds are very unmanageable in our 
language. 



186-202] PYTHIAN ODE IV. 109 

home with his mother, passing a sodden ventureless 
life, 1 but that each one, on terms even of death, 2 might 
achieve a most glorious meed of his valour with 
others of his equals in age. Now when the chosen 
crew had come down to the coast of Iolchos, Jason 
told off all with words of encouragement ; and then 
the seer Mopsus, expounding the decrees of fate by- 
birds and sacred lots, with right good will caused the 
host to embark. And when they had hung the 
anchors over the bows, the leader taking in his hands 
a libation-vessel of gold, stood on the stern and 
invoked the father of the celestials, 3 Zeus the lancer 
of the thunderbolt, 4 and the rapid changes of winds 
and waves to give them a quick passage, the nights 
and the navigable ways over the sea, with favourable 
days and the welcome fortune of a safe return. And 
from the clouds the god gave in reply a propitious 
utterance of his thunder, and bright flashes of 
lightning came bursting through. Then the heroes 
recovered their courage 5 in obedience to the signs 
from the god ; and the seer called to them to pull at 
the oar, telling them of sweet hopes ; and the rowing 
proceeded from under their quick hands as though 

1 Lit. " stewing or wasting away the life which is free from adven- 
ture." Compare 01. i. 83. 

2 Even though he died in the attempt. I do not think Dr. Don- 
aldson's version is correct, "might strive to obtain a seasoning or relish 
even for death itself." 

3 Or more properly, "of the sons of Uranus." 

4 Here not a general, but a special and local title. See 01. ix. 45. 

5 Awed, perhaps, at first, by the loud thunder. 



110 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [203-217 

%■ 

they would never tire. And with breezes from the 
south they came wafted to the mouth of the Euxine. 
There they founded a shrine and sacred precinct to 
Poseidon, god of the sea ; and a tawny herd of 
Thracian bulls was already there, and a recently- 
built stone altar with a hollow top. 1 And on setting 
out for a danger profound they implored the lord of 
ships that they might escape the violent movement 
of the concurrent rocks ; 2 for they were twain things 
of life, that plunged and rolled quicker than the 
regiments of deeply-roaring winds ; but that expe- 
dition of the heroes brought an end to them at last. 
After that they arrived at the Phasis ; there they 
joined in stout conflict with the dark- faced 3 Ool- 
chians at the very court of Aeetes ; and then first 
the queen of keenest darts, the Cyprus-born goddess, 
introduced to men from Olympus the love-lorn bird, 
the speckled wry-neck, tying it by the four spokes to 
a wheel 4 from which there was no escape ; and she 

1 0eWp,or eVxapa, was the hollow at the top of the altar for receiving 
the fire, and the flesh and blood of the victims burnt thereon. 

2 I believe this to be a very ancient and long pre-historic record of 
icebergs, which, perhaps shortly after the glacial period, and when the 
Pontus ceased to be a closed lake, had been carried by the current to 
the mouth of the Pontus, where they first stranded and then finally 
disappeared. Diodorus Siculus, v. ch. 47, records a tradition pre- 
served by the Samothracians, that the Pontus was formerly a lake, 
which burst its barriers and caused a great flood. 

s See Herod, ii. 104. 

4 This was a well-known magic charm of a bird tied alive on a 
wheel, where by a peculiar note it was thought to call an absent or 
indifferent lover. See Theocritus, Id. ii. 17. The general sense is, 
" there also Medea fell in love with Jason." 



217-232] PYTHIAN ODE IV. Ill 

taught the son of Aeson to be clever in soothing 
enchantments, that she might take away Medea's 
respect for her parents, and a longing for Hellas 
might impel her by the whip 1 of persuasion when 
her heart was fired by love. Then forthwith she 
showed him how to perform the task set him by her 
father ; and by making up drugs mixed with oil she 
gave him antidotes against strong pains wherewith 
to anoint himself. And they agreed to be united to 
each other in the bond of sweet wedlock. But when 
Aeetes had set down in the midst of them a plough 
of adamant, with oxen that breathed from their 
tawny jaws a flame of blazing fire, and w r ith brazen 
hoofs smote the earth in alternate steps; these he 
led and put to the collar single-handed, and after 
marking out with a line 2 straight furrows, he drove 
them on, and cut up the back of the loamy earth for 
a fathom's length. And he spoke as follows : — 
"When your king, whoever he is that commands 
your ship, has performed for me this task, let him 
carry oft' for himself the incorruptible coverlet, the 
fleece glistering with golden tufts." When he had 
said this, Jason flung off his saffron- dyed mantle, 

1 A metaphor from spinning a top, used also by Theocritus, ii. 31, 
in describing the effects of love. 

2 This seems the best interpretation of iurauva-ais. See the note on 
ver. 129. Others render it, "having harnessed them, he drove a 
straight furrow." The king himself, by way of showing what was to 
be done, drove the oxen and plough a yard or two ; but the task Jason 
was to perform (iiriTciKTbi/ /xerpou, ver. 236,) was to plough two or 
three furrows, previously marked for him as to length and direction. 



112 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [232-247 

and trusting to the aid of the goddess engaged in 
the work. And the fire made him not to shrink/ 
through the instructions of the foreign lady skilled 
in all pharmacy. So first drawing towards himself 
the plough, and fastening perforce the necks of the 
oxen in the harness, and plunging into their huge 
forms the painful goad, the stalwart man worked out 
the appointed measure. And Aeetes uttered a wild 
cry, — for his vexation was too great for words, — in 
amaze at the power he had shown. Then to the 
sturdy hero his comrades stretched out their hands, 
and covered his head with wreaths of green, and 
welcomed him with honied words. Straightway did 
the majestic son of Helios declare to him the spot 
where the glittering hide had been stretched by the 
knife 2 of Phrixus : for he hoped that that labour at 
least would not be accomplished by him. For it lay 
in a dense wood, and was firmly held in the jaws of 
a very fierce dragon, 3 which in thickness and length 
exceeded the size of a fifty-oared galley, which had 
been finished by strokes of iron. 'Tis long for me 
to go by the beaten track, for time cuts me short, 4 

1 eoAei is a digammated form from elKw, to roll or pack into a small 
space. Compare aoW^s, from a^ia elAe7i/. 

2 That is, when skinned by the knife. 

3 Lit. " it had hold^of the fiercest jaw of a dragon," etc., our idiom 
being " a fierce dragon held it in his jaws." 

4 a-wdirrei seems used in the sense of awTe/xi/a. The sense is, " I 
have not time to tell the rest of the legend according to the common 
account; and I must be an example to other poets of fipaxv\oyla, 
which I well know how to use when occasion requires it." 



248-259] PYTHIAN ODE IV. 113 

and I know a certain quick route; and to many 
others I am a guide in the poetic art. He slew the 
glare-eyed speckled-backed dragon by Medea's arts, 
my Arcesilas, and he stole her away, aided by her- 
self, the murderess of Pelias. And they visited the 
depths of ocean and the red sea, 1 and the nation of 
Lemnian women who had killed their husbands ; 
there too they gave them a show of games in a 
contest of wrestling with a cloak for a prize, 2 and 
had amours with them. Then it was that in union 
with a foreign woman 3 the appointed seed of your 
family's glorious prosperity was first sown either by 
day or at night ; for there a race was begotten by 
Euphemus and for the future ever went on. And 
thus in time, having come to the dwelling places of 
Lacedaemonian men, 4 they arrived as settlers at the 
island once called Calliste. 5 From thence the son of 



1 That is, the Indian ocean, which the ancients believed to be con- 
nected with the Euxine. The sense is, that the Argonauts in 
their long wanderings on the return sailed far to the east and to the 
the outer ocean. 

2 See 01. ix. 97. 

3 The sense is, that then Euphemus took to himself the Lemnian 
Malache, and begat a race which was destined to become the founders 
of Cyrene. The expression used is very remarkable. Without doubt 
dpovpais is here used for yvvai£L Comp. Soph. Antig. 569, dpdoa-1/j.oi 
yap eta i x°- T *P UJ/ yteu. The mention of "day or night" probably 
refers to a casual amour or a formal marriage, as the case might be. 
The literal rendering is, " and then day or night received the fated 
seed of your glory of prosperity (planted) in foreign lands." I have 
paraphrased it to give an intelligible meaning. For a-irep/j.' the MSS. 
give 7T6p, Mommsen /*aj/, who retains the vulg. vfierepas dKrlvas. 

4 The Spartan Aegidae. See Pyth. v. 70. 

5 Thera. See Herod, iv. 147. 

8 



114 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [259-273 

Latona gave you 1 the plain of Libya to improve with 
the imported honours of the gods, and to become at 
last rulers of the divine city of golden- throned 2 
Cyrene, having devised a scheme of well-planned 
policy. Now attend to a wise saying, even that of an 
Oedipus. If a man with sharp-edged axe should 
lop off the boughs of a mighty oak, and disfigure its 
majestic form, even though it fails to bear fruit, it 
still gives a proof of itself, if at last it should come 
to a wintry fire ; or it leaves the spot where 
it grew, and taking a part with upright pillars 
of lordly mein and supported upon them, 3 it per- 
forms a slavish office in the habitation of man. 
Now you are a leech ever most ready at hand, 
and the god of healing holds in regard the help 
you give to the state. It is your duty to apply 
a gentle hand in nursing an ulcerated wound. 4 For 
it is easy even for the weaker to shake a city to its 
foundations ; but to set it again in its place becomes 

1 By his oracle. 

2 The epithet probably has reference to the ceremony of evOpovHTixhs, 
or solemnly placing a statne on a seat in the temple where it was to 
remain. For diavefxeip = 8ioik€?j/, cf. Pyth. viii. 62. 

3 The pillars are the bea-irSrai, and the beam which is laid across 
and propped by them is regarded as the slave, because it is dependent 
on them for its stay and support. The allegory, which is addressed to 
Arcesilas, has reference to the risk of banishing the nobles from 
Cyrene. The state, says the poet, may prove strong enough to bear 
it ; but its beauty is gone when the boughs are cut off. It does not 
seem necessary to press the meaning further. Dr. Donaldson gives a 
slightly different interpretation from mine. 

4 This refers to the recal of Demophilus (ver. 281) from exile. He 
was a relation of Arcesilas, and seems to have been expelled on sus- 
picion of sympathising with the popular cause. 



273-287] PYTHIAN ODE IV. 115 

a hard struggle indeed, unless some god shall have 
become of a sudden the director of the rulers. Now 
for you the people's thanks for these services are 
expressed in verse. 1 Deign to devote all your zeal in 
the cause of the happy Cyrene. And among the say- 
ings of Homer mark well this one too, and improve 
upon it. " A good messenger/' he says, " brings the 
greatest credit on every transaction." 2 Even the song 
itself is the better for being rightly reported. Cyrene 
had reason to know, and the far-famed house of 
Battus, the honest intentions of Demophilus. For 
that man was young among boys, though in counsels 
he was an old man who has attained a life of a 
hundred years. And thus he deprives the malignant 
tongue of its noisy talk ; the insolent too he has 
learnt to detest, nor is he one to maintain a quarrel 
against the well-born, nor a procrastinator in any- 
thing. For the right time of action has a brief 
limit from men. Well is he aware of it, and he 



1 ££v<palpovrcu, " are spun out/' probably in irpooijuLta and ballads. 

2 This is commonly referred to a verse in II. xv. 207, which says, 
" this too is good, when a messenger has reasonable views." But 
there is hardly the faintest resemblance between the two passages. 
Pindar's Homer, I have elsewhere remarked, was not identical with 
our Homer. — The sense is, that Arcesilas ought to listen to a message 
or hint about Demophilus conveyed to him by a friend. The friend is 
really Pindar, represented however by the messenger who brings the 
ode, — probably verbally, — and teaches it to the chorus. Thus only 




at all, 



116 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [287-299 

attends upon it as a helper, not as a drudge. 1 Now 
they do say that nothing is so sad as this ; when a 
man is disposed to act rightly, to have to live away 
from home by necessity. Well ! so it was with that 
Atlas in the story ; he now has to struggle against 
the burden of the heavens far from his fatherland 
and his possessions. Yet immortal Zeus set free 
the Titans. 2 In time there are shiftings of sails, 
when the breeze ceases. But he confidently hopes 
that e'en yet, when he has got through his distressing 
malady, 3 he will see his home again, and attending 
banquets at the fountain of Apollo 4 he may often 
give up his soul to youthful merriment, and handling 
the spangled lute among other poets, he may enjoy 
repose as a citizen, 5 not causing pain to anyone, and 
himself receiving no ill-treatment from the people. 
And then perhaps he may tell what a subject of 
immortal verse he suggested for Arcesilas, in his late 
reception at Thebes. 

1 He is not, as it were, the slave of circumstances, though he bides 
his time and acts on opportunities* 

2 In the same way and by the like authority Arcesilas may, if he 
pleases, release Demophilus. 

3 When restored to his country. 

4 The spring Kvp-q at Cyrene. 

5 I venture to read iroXiras (i.e., eurifios) for TroXirais, — a correc- 
tion suggested alike by the context and the order of the words. It is 
probable that Demophilus was himself a poet ; and Pindar means, that 
his friend may then be able to relate in song at the royal table, how 
he had paid a visit to Thebes, and had suggested the present ode in 
honour of Arcesilas. 



117 



ODE V. 

This ode is in honour of the same victory as the 
preceding, but was sung on a slightly different occa- 
sion, the procession of the horses, attended by the 
charioteer, Carrhotus, who was brother to the Queen, 
through the principal street of Cyrene. Dr. Don- 
aldson regards this as a kind of Castor eum (see 01. i. 
101, Pyth. ii. 69). It is a difficult ode, thoroughly 
Aeolic in metre and dialect. The precise date is not 
known ; Dr. Donaldson thinks it was composed some- 
what later than the preceding. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

Influence of wealth, especially when rightly used from 
early life. — Praise of Arcesilas for his prudence and liberality. 
— Carrhotus is commended to him for his skill and care in 
driving. — Address to Carrhotus, who has returned safely from 
Pytho to Cyrene. — Ancient fame and good fortune of the 
family of Battus. — Legend of his coming to Libya and found- 
ing Cyrene. — Relation of the Theban Aegidae to the founders 
of Cyrene. — Their acceptance of the local hero-worship al- 
ready established there. — The present victory will give plea- 
sure to the deceased ancestors of Arcesilas. — Praises of the 
victor for prudence, eloquence, and prowess ; and prayers far 
a continuance of present blessings. 



118 THE ODES OF PINDAR. T 1 " 19 

Wealth 1 lias a wide influence, whenever a mortal 
man has received it from fortune combined with 
disinterested virtue, and takes it to his home as an 
attendant 2 that finds him many friends. Now you, 
heaven- gifted Arcesilas, certainly have gone in quest 
of it 3 with good credit to yourself from the first 
beginnings 4 of your illustrious life, thanks to Castor 
with the golden car, who after a wintry rain-storm 
has shed a bright calm on your happy home. And 
wise men bear better even that power which is given 
them by the god. 5 Now you pursue the path of 
justice though attended by great prosperity ; in one 
respect, because you are a king of great cities 6 (the 
family glory is possessed of this most majestic office, 



1 The article can hardly be rendered in English. The meaning is, 
" 'Tis their wealth that gives men their influence, when it is rightly 
used." 

2 The Greeks were very fond of personifying wealth, and repre- 
senting it as entering a house, e.g., Aesch. Ag. 1332. Here avayeiv 
is used as in Nem. xi. 35. Horn. II. iii. 48. Od. iii. 272. 

8 That is, you have been long looking not only for wealth, but for 
wealth combined with virtue, to become an inmate of your home : 
ever since you have been king, you have studied to use your fortune 
well. 

4 Lit., " from the top steps." The metaphor seems a continuation 
of audyeiu SS/jlov. A man goes down from his front door to greet a 
friend arriving. Lucretius has "gradus scandere vitse" in the inverse 
direction: 

5 That is, the kingly office. Kings are said KaKas (ptpeiv Svvaniv, 
because power, if misused, may end in ruin. 

6 The pentapolis of Cyrene. The sense is, that when a victor is 
also a king, or a king a victor, his happiness is complete ; rb 8* 
e<rxaTOJ/ Kopvtyovrai ftaaiKsvcriv. 01. i. 113. — The next clause, which 
is very difficult, I have taken in pnrenthesi, as the least of evils. (I 
now see that Mommsen has taken the same view. Schneidewin reads 
tirel for i%^h a ^ er Hermann.) 



20-33] PYTHIAN ODE V. 119 

which is united with, virtue 1 in your mind), and you 
are happy also now because you have won a victory 
in the chariot-race from the far-famed Pythian 
contest, and have received as your meed this comus 
sung by men, Apollo's delight. Therefore let it not 
escape you, when your praises are sung at Cyrene by 
that sweet garden of Aphrodite, to set the god over 
everything as the author; 2 and esteem Carrhotus 
beyond all the rest of your friends, in that he did not 
take with him Excuse, 3 the child of late-minded After- 
thought, but has returned to the palace of the justly- 
ruling Battidae, having found hospitality by the waters 
of Castaly, 4 and placed on your hair the prize for 
being best in the chariot-race, by keeping the reins 
uninjured in the sacred course of the twelve swift 5 

1 ixiyvvfievov seems to represent KtKpa\i.hov aperq in ver. 2. Others 
take (ppevl for aocpia, which is extremely harsh, and almost a desperate 
resource. 

2 Forget not to regard the god as the real author and giver of every 
success. 

8 Compare 01. vii. 4, UpofxaOios (dvydr^p) altitios. The sense is, 
that Carrhotus, who was the charioteer on this occasion, did not make 
excuses, but went promptly when summoned. There seems a reference 
to the proverb (tkti^iv aywv ob Se'xeTat, Ar. Ach. 392. 

4 He took lodgings, as it were, at Delphi, during the time of the 
games, and there drove the royal car ; but he has now returned to 
Cyrene. 

5 Lit., " foot-lasting," in quod sujjiciunt pedes. — It is important to 
understand, that Greek chariot-races were not a mere contest of speed. 
The cars were very light, almost like wheelbarrows ; and the point or 
" fun" of these contests was their danger ; for with so many driving at 
full speed in a narrow course and round a pillar, six times up and six 
times down, the race often ended in a general smash, and in the death 
or serious injury of some of the drivers. These facts must be inferred 
Prom the descriptions given in, and the expressions used by, the tragic 
writers. They are amply borne out by numerous drawings on contem- 
porary Greek vases. 



120 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [34-55 

heats. For lie broke no part of the strong harness, 
but there are now suspended (in the temple) all the 
cunning works of the brass-fitting artists which he 
brought when he passed over the Crisean hill to the 
level plain in the valley of the god ; and therefore 
they are now preserved in a case of cypress-wood 
near to the statue which the bow-bearing Cretans 
dedicated in the temple of Parnassus, the naturally- 
grown stump cut from the tree in a single piece. 1 
It is your duty therefore to go to meet with willing 
mind him who has done you this good service. You 
likewise, son of Alexibius (Carrhotus), are made 
illustrious by the fair-haired Muses. Happy man, 
who hast, even though after toiling much for it, a 
remembrance in this best of records. 2 For among 
forty charioteers who fell you alone carried through 
your car entire with undaunted mind, and have now 
returned from the glorious contests to the plain of 
Libya and the city of your sires. Now no man is or 
ever will be exempt from his share of toils ; yet the 
old prosperity of Battus still attends the house, 
albeit with chequered fortunes, — at once the bulwark 



1 " The Cretan image mentioned here was a piece of wood which 
had grown in the form of a man. Hock (Creta, iii. p. 161) thinks 
that it was one of the works of art attributed to Daedalus, who may 
have been supposed to pare and polish the rude forms of trees into 
some approximate resemblance to the human shape." — Dr. Donaldson. 

2 Viz., immortal verse. 



56-76] PYTHIAN ODE V. 121 

of the city and the brightest eye 1 to resident aliens. 
Sim indeed even the deep-toned lions fled from in 
fear, when he had brought to them a voice from 
beyond the seas. 2 But it was Apollo the founder 3 
of the city who made the beasts feel this terrible 
alarm, in order that he might not prove false in ful- 
filling his oracles to the lord of Cyrene. The same 
god it is who allots to men and women the several 
remedies for their grievous maladies, and has be- 
queathed to them the lute, and gives the poetic art 
to whomsoever he pleases, bringing to their hearts a 
love of peace and order, 4 and who frequents the 
hidden places of his oracles, by virtue of which he 
caused the valorous descendants of Hercules and 
Aegimius to dwell in Lacedaemon and at Argos and 
at sacred Pylos. Now they say that from Sparta 
came my own much- cherished race. Sj)rung from 
thence the heroes called Aegidae came to Thera, even 
my ancestors, — not indeed without the guidance of 
the god, but a certain destiny brought 5 thither a 



1 The surest protection to strangers at Cyrene is the prestige of 
luck and prosperity attaching to the house of Battus. 

2 "When he had uttered, in alarm, a voice which sounded strangely 
to them. It was said that Battus was dumb, and that he first spoke 
from fright at the sight of a lion in the Libyan desert. Herodotus, in 
giving an account of the founding of Cyrene by Battus, does not 
mention the incident. See iv. 155. 

3 Lit., "head-leader." The word (apxayeras) is so used in 01. 
vii. 78. 

* Lit., "good government without war." 

5 Viz., to Thera from the Peloponnese, and from Thera to Cyrene. 
The epavos mentioned is the Doric feast of the Carnea. 



122 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [77-97 

festive rite attended with much sacrificing ; and from 
thence receiving thy Carnea, Apollo, we 1 honour at 
the banquet the grandly built city of Cyrene, pos- 
sessed as it is 2 by the brass-loving strangers, Trojan 
descendants of Antenor. For they came thither 
with Helen 3 after they had seen their native city 
become a smoking ruin in the war. And the horse- 
driving race is religiously received with sacrifices, 
and propitiated by offerings (at their tombs), by the 
men whom Aristoteles brought, when he opened the 
deep highway of the sea for his swift vessels. 4 He 
founded also larger groves of the gods, and laid down 
a paved road, cut straight through the plain, to be 
smitten with the feet of horses in processions to 
Apollo for averting evil from mortals ; and there he 
lies in death apart from the rest at the furthermost 
end of the agora. Happy did he live while among 
men, and afterwards he was blessed as a hero wor- 
shipped by the people. And away from him in front 
of their palaces lie other sacred kings that have their 

1 That is, we Theban Aegidae now living, who claim a family con- 
nexion with the Spartan Aegidae who joined in founding Cyrene from 
Thera. See Herod, iv. 149. 

2 Held or protected by Saifioves iirix^pioi, Trojan heroes buried in 
the land even before the arrival of the Greeks from Thera. 

3 The Pindaric Homer probably represented Helen as conducted 
back from Troy by the sons of Antenor, who is the person that advo- 
cates her surrender in II. iii. 

4 The meaning is, that the colonists of Battus from Cyrene duly 
offer sacrifices to and worship the heroes of the Irnro^diJLOL Tpcocs, whom 
they found, as it were, already preoccupying the place and entombed 
on the spot. — olx^ly is here used like iiroix^o-dai, prosequi, in 01. 
iii. 40. 



98-117] PYTHIAN ODE V. 123 

lot with Hades ; and mayhap they even now hear, 1 
with such intelligence as the dead possess, the 
mighty deeds (of the victor) besprinkled with the 
soft dews (of song) and the liquid outpourings of 
comus-strains, — at once their own happiness and a 
justly deserved glory to their descendant Arcesilas. 2 
Him it behoves in the song of his young friends to 
make mention of Phoebus with the golden sword, 
now that he has obtained from Pytho this quittance 
from his costs by a glorious victory, a jovial strain. 
That man is well-spoken of by the knowing. I will 
declare what they say of him ; he cherishes a good 
sense above his years ; 3 in eloquence and daring he 
is a far-flying 4 eagle among birds, and his strength in 
the contest is like a castle. Among the Muses too 
he can take his flights by a genius inherited from 
his mother ; and now he has shown himself a 
cunning charioteer. And all the avenues to local 
honours he has essayed. As the god by his favour 



1 Though in their graves, these old kings of Cyrene (perhaps the 
successors of Battus) can hear the praises of Arcesilas sung at their 
tombs. This is a fine and chivalrously-expressed sentiment, and we 
have incidentally a graphic picture of the ancient agora at Cyrene. 
The sacred road of Apollo, which was trodden in the present proces- 
sion, led from the agora to the temple of Apollo, the patron-god of 
Cyrene. 

2 I should like to read ccphu o\$ov vlo?s re kolvclv x^P lJ/ y ctvv$ik6v t' 
'ApK€(rika, i.e., a joint or common glory. SeePyth. i. 2. 

» We have no idiom to express the close meaning, " he feeds a mind 
superior to his youth." 
4 Or " long- winged." 



124 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [117-124 

now brings his power 1 to so happy a result, so in 
times hereafter to come, 2 ye blessed Cronidae, give 
him to have it both in deeds and in counsels, that 
the stormy violence of late autumnal blasts may not 
prevail against his age. Of a surety the mighty 
mind of Zeus doth direct the destiny of the man 
whom he loves. I pray that he may give yet again 
the like honour at Olympia to the family of Battus. 

1 That is, the victor's physical power. So dvva<ns is used in Pyth. 
iv. 238. 

2 Mommsen reads 6iro?a for oTrurde, i.e., birota didolre, %• kot. /ultj 
dafxaXi(oi xpovov, where X9^ V0V * s a secondary accusative, added by a 
not uncommon idiom. In this case perhaps it would be better to read 



125 



ODE VI. 

This is one of Pindar's earlier odes, composed 
B.C. 494, to commemorate the victory of Xenocrates 
of Agrigentum, and of the clan of the Emmenidae, 
with the war-car. The son of the victor acted as his 
charioteer, and is addressed as the subject of the ode 
in ver. 15. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

The numerous victories of the Emmenidae stored up, as 
in a treasure-house, at Pytho. — To them is now added that of 
Xenocrates. — The filial affection of Thrasybulus is compared 
to the disposition of Achilles as instructed by Chiron, and to 
the valour of Antilochus in delivering his father Nestor from 
danger. — The renown gained by this deed. — The good sense 
and forbearance of Thrasybulus. — His devotion to horse- 
racing and to hospitality. 

Give ear, ye people ! for we are again turning the 
arable land 1 of the twinkling-eyed Aphrodite or of 
the Graces, in this our visit to the stone-built centre 
of loudly-rumbling Earth. For there a ready store 
of hymns for Pythian victories has been built in 

1 Compare for the metaphor Nem. x. 26. The youth to whom this 
ode is addressed was probably both handsome and accomplished. See 
ver. 49. The Xdpirts were also the goddesses of victory. 



126 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [ 5 ~ 25 

Apollo's tree-clad vale, rich in golden offerings, for 
the wealthy Emmenidae and for Agrigentum by the 
river side, and especially for Xenocrates. 1 Nor shall 
the wintry rain-storm, coming against it as from 
afar, the relentless army of the loud-moaning cloud, 
nor the wind carry it into a bay of the sea, beaten 
by the all- sweeping drift. But it shall show its 
front 2 in a clear spot to thy father, Thrasybulus, 
and shall give tidings of a victory won by the 
chariot in the hollows of Crisa's vale, a common 
honour to the family and glorious through the 
reports of men. You indeed, having him on your 
right hand, 3 keep in full force the charge which they 
say the son of Philyra erst gave in the mountain 
wilds to the man of mighty strength, the son of 
Peleus, when he was bereft of his father : Of the 
gods, to hold in special honour the son of Cronus, the 
deep-voiced lord of lightnings and thunder-bolts ; and 

1 The sense is, that the clan of the Emmenidae, of which the victor 
was a member, had many victories recorded in offerings made by them 
to the temple at Delphi. 

2 The figure in the poet's mind is that of a treasure-house built on a 
headland near an estuary, and so placed that the stones, sand, and 
drift brought down in a flood may some day knock it down and carry 
the ruins into the bay. — By a very slight change, <pavsi for <pdei, I have 
given a simple sense to a passage hitherto hopeless. The facade of a 
house is called irpoacoiroy rr}\avyh in 01. vi. 4. Of course, the true 
subject to airayyeKe? (ver. 18) is tifivos rather than e-qcravpSs. But this 
is very easily implied from pvvoov drjaavpos. 

3 You, Thrasybulus, the son, holding your father Xenocrates in due 
honour. The metaphor in bpQav ayeiv next following is from leading 
a person by the hand so as to prevent him from falling. Conversely, 
Xa/xcu irlirreiv is said of things which come to nought, as in ver. 37. 



26-48] PYTHIAN ODE VI. 127 

never to defraud of the like honour the term of life 
allotted to parents. There was of old another, the 
warrior Antilochus, who had the like sentiments, and 
who died in defence of his father, by awaiting the 
attack of the man- slaying leader of the Ethiopian 
hosts, Memnon. 1 For Nestor's car had been checked 
in its career by one horse being wounded by Paris. 
Memnon was wielding against him his sturdy spear, 
when the mind of the Messenian old man in alarm 
called on his son to rescue him. 2 Nor did he fling 
away words falling vainly to the ground ; there on 
the spot that godlike hero took his stand, and pur- 
chased the safety of his sire by his own death. And 
so he was thought by the younger in age of the 
olden time, to have achieved a vastly glorious work, 
and to hold the highest place in duty towards 
parents. These things indeed are past and gone ; 
but of the present race Thrasybulus has come nearest 
to the standard of filial affection. 3 He has followed 
the steps of his uncle too, and shown his love of 
glory. His wealth he manages with judgment, nor 
does he gather the fruit of a dishonest or overbearing 



1 This passage is very remarkable, as containing an account not in 
our Homer, yet existing in another form (in my opinion, a later one), 
in II. viii. 90, etc. 

2 To make the comparison complete, we must suppose that Anti- 
lochus was driving the car of his father Nestor. But instead of driv- 
ing it away, he stood and fought Memnon, by whom he was slain. 

3 By irarpwa aTadfXT) the poet may mean the making a father's 
interests the standard or measure to regulate one's actions by. 



128 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [49-54 

folly; 1 poesy too (he practises) amid the retired 
haunts of the Pierides. To thee likewise, thou earth- 
shaking god, who didst invent equestrian contests, 2 
Poseidon, he applies himself with right glad mind. 
As for his temper, sweet to associate with for his 
guests as well as for others, it surpasses the pierced 
workmanship of bees. 

1 Hermann's avdrav (i.e., &rav) seems a good emendation for H)$a.v. 

2 The text here is doubtful. Mommsen gives as evpes iinreias 
icrSSovs. Schneidewin, bpycus is famav ecroSov. The last word seems 
to resemble our phrase, "to enter" a horse for a race. 



129 



ODE VII. 

This short and simple ode is, like the preceding, 
early in date, viz., B.C. 490. The Athenian Megacles 
in whose honour it was composed is believed to have 
been the son of Cleisthenes' brother, Hippocrates 
(Herod, vi. 131, yiverai KXeiaOevrj^ MeyafcXei, /cat 
c iTnroKparrjSi ifc Se 'IiriroKpareo^ Meycackerjs re aXkos 
fcal 'Ayapiarrj aXXrj). Pindar appears to have ad- 
mired the family of the Alcmaeonidae ; in ver. 19 he 
expresses regret that Megacles should have suffered 
the jealousy of the citizens, by whom he was twice 
ostracised. 

SUMMAEY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

Athens affords a fit theme of praise for the family of the 
Alcmaeonidae, who are the most renowned in Hellas. — Their 
munificence in rebuilding the temple of Apollo at Delphi. — 
Their numerous victories at the great Games. — Eegret that 
such services should have met with an ungrateful return ; but 
such is the lot of too great prosperity. 

The great city of Athens 1 is the fairest prelude 

1 Athens was " great," /jitydXcu, even before the time of the 
Alcmaeonidae. See Herod, v. 66. Hence the epithet in Pindar does 
not, perhaps, refer merely to her historical greatness, such as that re- 
sulting from the battle of Marathon, which was fought in this year. 

9 



130 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [ 2 ~ 22 

for laying the foundation of songs 1 in praise of the 
powerful family of Alcmaeonidae (now victors) in the 
chariot-race. For what clan, what house of any 
peoples, 2 shall I name, that has been more illustrious 
for Hellas to hear of ? For to all cities familiar is 
the fame of those citizens of Erectheus who built at 
divine Pytho thy much admired shrine, Apollo. 3 
And I am led (to sing of them) by five victories at 
Isthmus, and one of especial splendour at the Olym- 
pian festival of Zeus, and two from Cirrha gained by 
you, Megacles, and your forefathers. And at this 
new success I am not without joy ; yet there is one 
matter at which I am annoyed, that envy requites 4 
these great and good deeds. — They do say, however, 
that in this way thriving prosperity, when it has 
stood long by a man, is likely to meet with chequered 
fortune. 5 

1 Lit., "to lay the foundation of songs for horses." It is uncertain 
whether yeuea depends on irpooifiiov (etVl), or on ySaAeVflcu. It is 
difficult to render such terse idioms without a verbose paraphrase. 
The first sentence in the original has but twelve words, to express 
which I have been compelled to use twenty-nine. 

'* Xawv Schneidewin for vaiovr\ Mommsen gives alav, " of lands." 

3 See Herod, v. 62. 

4 Megacles had been twice ostracised. 

5 The sense is, " it is a saying that all long-lasting prosperity has 
to bear reverses." Lit., "will win for itself (tyepzo-dai kcv) this and 
that." 



131 



ODE VIII. 

Aristomenes of Aegixa won the prize in the 
wrestling-match, as some have thought (for the date 
is uncertain) B.C. 458 ; but Dr. Donaldson agrees with 
Hermann, who thinks the allusions at the beginning 
of the ode are to the battle of Salamis, in which the 
Aeginetans gained the first prize of valour (Herod, 
viii. 93). Thus also Xerxes and his vftpis are appro- 
priately symbolised by the defeated giants Por- 
phyrion and Typhoeus (ver. 12-16). According to 
this view, the date is much earlier, probably b.c. 478. 
Dr. Donaldson thinks that Pindar had in view the 
very words of the oracle quoted by Herod, viii. 77, 

5?a hiKT) (rjSeVcrei Kparepbu Kopov, "Yfipios vlov. 

This ode, like most of those which have the Aeolian 
measure and dialect, is difficult. From ver. 19 it 
may be inferred that it was sung at the victor f s 
house in Aegina. Dr. Donaldson compares with this 
ode generally 01. viii., which is also to an Aeginetan 
victor. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

Address to Peace, the daughter of Justice. — Vengeance, 
when justly aroused, overtakes wrong-doers. — Aegina's glory 



132 THE ODES OF PINDAR. L 1 " 15 

is not new, but of ancient date both for justice and prowess.— 
The victor has followed in the steps of his predecessors of the 
same clan. — He is compared with Alcmaeon, the brave son of 
a brave sire Amphiaraus. — The poet claims (but obscurely) 
some personaj relation with Alcmaeon. — Invocation of the 
favour of Apollo. — Uncertainty of future successes, and an 
enumeration of those already gained. — Gloomy reflections on 
the uncertainty of human life and glory. 

Genial Peace, thou daughter of Justice, that 
givest greatness to states, and holdest the supreme 
keys of counsels and of wars, receive with a welcome 
this compliment to Aristomenes for his Pythian 
victory ! For well do you know how to act the gentle 
part and to be gently treated alike when the . right 
time arrives ; and yet you, when any one has in- 
spired your heart with merciless rage, sternly meet 
the might of the enemy and sink insolence in the 
sea. 1 Even Porphyrion had to learn that he was 
wrong in provoking it. That gain brings the most 
pleasure, if a man gets something from the house of 
a willing giver. 2 But violence proves the ruin even 



1 This is supposed to have reference to the battle of Salamis, which 
had taken place not long" before, and in which Aeginetans had gained 
the api(TT€?a. The general sense is this : Aegina is famed for its 
justice, (01. viii. 21), and justice is the mother of peace (since it does 
away with the motives for war) ; but peace, though disposed to be 
gentle, knows also how to be resentful when unjustly assailed. This 
resembles our popular sentiment, "to rouse the British lion." 

2 Compare Hesiod, Opp. et D. 358. Xerxes is here represented 
under the character of Porphyrion, the giant who rebelled against 
Zeus. Dr. Donaldson thinks the allusion in €k6ptos, etc., is to the 
demand of earth and water made by Darius, and complied with by the 
Aeginetans, Herod, vi. 49. 



15-3 '3 PYTHIAN ODE VIII. 133 

of the loud boaster in its own time. Typhoeus the 
hundred-headed monster of Cilicia escaped not its 
effects, nor yet the king of the giants (Porphyrion) ; 
but they were subdued by the thunder-bolt and by 
the bow of Apollo ; who now with kindly feeling 
has welcomed the son of Xenarches on his return 
from Cirrha crowned with a garland of green leaves 
from Parnassus and (escorted) by a Doric comus- 
song. And the island administered by justice has 
met with its tribute of song in having reached the 
famed exploits of the Aeacidae; 1 and it enjoys a 
reputation that leaves nothing to be desired from the 
first ; for it is made the theme of song for being the 
nurse of heroes of highest renown in many vic- 
torious contests and in rapid fights. Partly too it is 
conspicuous for its men. 2 But I am too busy to 
apply to it all I could say at length on the lyre and 
with soft voice, lest weariness should come and cause 
annoyance. So let the subject before me, the debt 
of praise to you, dear youth, this latest of Aegina's 
honours, run on apace, winged by my poetic art. 
For in wrestling-matches you tread in their steps 
and do not disgrace your maternal uncles, Theog- 
netus at Olympia, nor Clitomachus the victor at the 



1 Aegina is praised both for its justice and for the valorous deeds of 
its inhabitants, worthy of the Aeacidae of old. Compare 01. viii. 21. 
Nem. it. 12. 

2 That is, its present inhabitants, as opposed to the heroes of the 
olden time, Ajax and Peleus, etc. 



134 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [37-55 

Isthmus in feats of strength. 1 And in aggrandising 
the clan of the Midylidae you deserve to have the 
saying applied to you, 2 which erst the son of Oecleus 
(Amphiaraus) ambiguously delivered when he saw 3 
the sons (of the chiefs) at seven- gated Thebes stand- 
ing to the spear, when the Epigoni came against it 
on their second expedition from Argos. For thus 
he spoke 4 while they were fighting : " By the gift 
of nature the spirit of chivalry is conspicuous in 
sons as inherited from their fathers. 5 I discern 
clearly my Alcmaeon brandishing the device of the 
speckled dragon on his gleaming shield at the gates 
of Cadmus. And he who met with a reverse in his 
former defeat, the hero Adrastus, is now favoured 
with 6 tidings of a better omen. But in his own 
family he shall meet with the opposite fortune ; for 
he alone of all the army of the Danai, after collect- 
ing the bones of his dead son, shall return by the 
favour of the gods with unharmed hosts to the wide 



1 By epao-vyviov the tugging and scuffling in the contest of the 
pancratium are probably meant. 

2 Viz., as one who inherits, as Alcmaeon did, the virtue of his 
ancestors. Compare 01. vi. 13. 

3 By a kind of second-sight or prophetic clairvoyance ; for he had 
been swallowed up by the earth in the expedition against Thebes 
preceding this war of the Epigoni. 

4 By an oracle delivered at his tomb. 

5 It is natural for sons to be brave when their fathers were so 
before them. 

6 Lit., "is bound by." See Neni. ix. 19. This omen was now 
declared by the oracle at the tomb of Amphiaraus. 



55 " 73 ] PYTHIAN ODE VIII. 135 

streets of Abas/' 1 Such, words did Amphiaraus 
utter ; and with joy I myself too throw garlands on 
Alcmaeon's tomb, and sprinkle it also with song, 
because, being a neighbour of mine and the keeper 
of my property, he met me 2 as I was going to the 
central altar of Earth, famed in song, and at once 
exercised the family art of prophecy. But thou, 
far- darting god, who rulest the famed temple fre- 
quented by people of every land in the mountain- 
glades of Pytho, didst there give this, the greatest 
of successes ; and at Aegina before that didst bring 
to him the eagerly-coveted prize of the pentathlum 
at the season of thy festival. And with willing 
mind I do avow, king, that it is through thee that 
I have an eye for tune 3 in all that I say 4 of every 
victor. By the side of our sweetly-sung comus 
stands the goddess of Justice ; 5 and I pray for the 
unfailing regard of the gods, Xenarches, on the 
fortunes of your family. For if a man has achieved 

1 The sense is, " for though he and his army shall return safe alone 
of the Danai, he shall nevertheless lose his son on the battle-field." 
Abas was an ancient king of Argos. The allusion perhaps is to the 
heavy losses that had been experienced at the battle of Salamis. 

2 The allusion is obscure. Pindar would seem to have deposited 
some money for safe custody in the treasury of the shrine of Alcimeon 
near his own house at Thebes. On his journey to Delphi he seems to 
have come to some other shrine or statue of the same hero, which he 
regarded as a good omen for his journey, — iv6$ioi <ru(j.fSo\oi such were 
called (Aesch. Prom. 487). 

3 Like jSAeVeij/ "Apr?, "to have a warlike look," and many similar 
phrases — Kara r\v seems to mean 5m <re. 

4 Lit., "go over," traclo. 

5 In allusion to the character of Aegina for that virtue. See ver. 22. 



136 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [73-91 

a success 1 without tedious toil, lie is thought by 
many to be wise among fools, and to be building up 
his life by his right planning of the means. But 
these things lie not in the power of men ; it is the 
god who supplies them, now putting one uppermost, 
while another he depresses beneath the level of the 
hands. At Megara too 2 you gained a prize, and in 
the remote village of Marathon, and in the local 
contests of Hera, Aristomenes, you beat (the com- 
petitors) in the action by three victories. And you 
threw yourself from your full height upon the bodies 
of four (wrestlers), meaning them mischief ; to whom 
no genial return together was awarded at the 
Pythian festival, nor as they came up to their 
mother did a sweet smile raise around them words of 
compliment ; but by the back ways, keeping aloof 
from their enemies, 3 they sneak home, heart-broken 
at their mishap. Now he who has gained some fresh 
honour in the time of his youth, 4 is borne aloft, by 
his great hopes (of more success), by aspiring 
thoughts of valour, when he takes an interest in 



1 Lit., " possesses good things." 

2 The sense is continued from ver. 66, the intervening passage being 
in a manner parenthetical. 

8 Lest they should incur their taunts and ridicule. Compare 01. 
viii. 69. Dr. Donaldson renders it, " in anxious suspense on account 
of their enemies." Compare Od. xii. 435, aTr-qcopoi 5' iaav o£oi, "the 
boughs hung far out of reach." 

4 Perhaps we should read adpSrrjros e-m, and in the Homeric verse 
rodova* aSpSrriTa nod ifj^v, instead of the unmetrical av5p6irjTa. 



92-100J PYTHIAN ODE VIII. 137 

these things beyond the mere love of wealth. 1 In 
a short time men's pleasures are increased, and so 
also (in a short time) do they fall to the ground, 
shaken by an adverse doom. 2 We are creatures of a 
day ; what we are worth none can tell. 3 Man is but 
a shadowy dream; 4 and yet, when glory given by 
the god comes to them, men have a bright light 
shining upon them, and a soothing life. Aegina, 
mother dear, protect this city in its course of freedom, 
with Zeus, and the hero-god Aeacus, and Peleus, and 
the good knight Telamon, and with Achilles. 

1 Here again we have a sentence remarkable for brevity of expres- 
sion, the literal sense being, "from great bope be flies with winged 
(thoughts of) valour, having a care superior to wealth." 

2 Lit., "by a decree (or resolve) turned from them." The metaphor 
is taken from an earthquake. 

3 Lit., " wbat is a man, and what is he not?" — a phrase that has 
no resemblance to any English idiom. 

4 Or, "a dream about a shadow." 



138 



ODE IX. 

Telesicrates of Cyrene won the prize in the 
foot-race with the heavy shield (a great effort of 
strength), B.C. 478. Dr. Donaldson infers from some 
considerations which appear to have weight, that this 
ode was composed for a procession at Thebes, the 
victor being related to the family of the Aegidae. 
The ode is one of great beauty and interest, and has 
on the whole fewer critical difficulties than most. 

SUMMAEY OF THE AEGUMENT. 

In praising the victor the poet at once takes up with the 
legend of the marriage of the Nymph Cyrene with Apollo. — 
He apologizes for the digression, and cites the Theban Iolaus 
as an example of one who well understood the doctrine of 
Kcupos, fitting time for all things. — He combines his praise 
with that of Hercules and Iphicles . — The previous successes 
of Telesicrates. — One of his ancestors, Alexidamus, had won 
himself a bride by his swiftness in the race. 

I desire, in reporting a Pythian victory of Telesi- 
crates in the race with the brazen shield, with the 
aid of the low-girdled Graces, 1 to raise my voice in 

1 Goddesses of song, of victory, and of beauty. Telesicrates seems 
to have been a handsome man. Vide ver. 100, and compare the be- 
ginning of Pytb. vi. 



4 - 18 ] PYTHIAN ODE IX. 139 

praise of a wealthy man, a victory 1 won by chariot- 
driving Cyrene. Whom erst the flowing-haired son 
of Latona ravished from the wind-roaring 'vales of 
Pelion, and bore away the maiden huntress in a gilt 
car, to the spot where he made her the mistress of a 
land abounding in flocks and most productive in 
corn, that she might make the third part of the 
mainland her home, the stock destined to flourish 
with lovely verdure. 2 And silver-footed Aphrodite 
received the Delian stranger as he stepped from his 
divine car, taking hold of him with the light grasp 
of her hand. Then over the sweet marriage-couch 
she threw the coyness of love, as she joined in the 
ties of a common wedlock the god and the daughter 
of the widely- ruling Hypseus, 3 who at that time was 
king of the haughty Lapithae, a hero second in 
descent from Oceanus. For him the Naiad nymph 
Creiisa, daughter of earth, entranced by the em- 
braces of Peneus, formerly bore amid the famed 
mountain- valleys of Pindus. And Hypseus brought 
up his fair -armed child Cyrene. No love had she 
for pacing to and fro before the loom, nor for the 

1 crrecpavtana may also be taken as an accusative in opposition to 
#»/5pa, or even the sentence, like ti/jltju, Ziroiva, etc. — Cyrene is here 
the nymph. See Isthm. i. 1. 

2 See Pyth. iv. 15, and compare for the figure of speech, by which a 
root or stump is said to throw out leaves, JEsch. Suppl. 105, and Ag. 
966. The meaning is, that Cyrene would become the mother of other 
cities. Pindar fancied too that the Oasis of Ammon was very near 
Cyrene. 

3 Lit., " joining a common marriage cohabited in by both the god 
and the daughter of Hypseus." 



140 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [19-35 

pleasures of banquets with companions at home ; l but 
(armed) with brazen javelins and hunting-knife she 
slew in the fight wild beasts ; and while thus she 
afforded much quiet peace to her fathers' herds, the 
sharer of her bed, 2 sweet sleep, she enjoyed but little, 
and that only as it fell heavy on her eyelids towards 
morn. Once on a time the far-darting god of the 
wide quiver, Apollo, came upon her as she was 
struggling all alone, and without a spear, against a 
huge gaunt lion ; and immediately he called Chiron 
from his hall with these words. 3 " Son of Philyra, 
leave thy hallowed grot and regard with wonder the 
spirit shown by this woman, and her great strength, — 
what a contest she is carrying on with undaunted 
head ; maiden as she is, she hath a heart superior 
to toil ; and her feelings are not storm-tossed by fear. 
Who was the mortal wight that begat her ? From 
what tribe was she torn away 4 to dwell in the 
recesses of the shadowy mountains ? She is engaged 
in a fight that she cannot carry through. Is it 



1 Lit., "with stay-at-home companions," olKovpovo-wv. Compare 
with this highly poetic description Virgil's account of Camilla, JEn. 
viii. 805 and xi. 582. 

2 "While she spent most of the night in hunting, she took only a 
little sleep towards morning. It seems to me that crvyKoirou is here a 
substantive in opposition with yAvKvp virvov. Sleep is called the 
"sharer of her couch" because, as a maiden, she had no other male 
partner. The passage is difficult to render, even with the aid of some 
paraphrase. 

3 Lit., " he addressed Chiron (called) out of his hall with (this) 
remark." 

4 By bandits. 



36_52 ] PYTHIAN ODE IX. 141 

lawful to take instant and open possession of her, 1 
or (must I wait) to cull the sweet flower by .mar- 
riage?" To him the bold Centaur, smiling pleasantly 
with good-humoured brow, forthwith told in reply 
his advice, " Secret are wise Persuasion's keys to the 
sacred joys of love, Phoebus ; and among gods and 
men alike (lovers) feel abashed at this, to obtain the 
pleasures of the marriage-bed openly at first. For 
even you, to whom it is not lawful to deal in false- 
hood, have been seduced by the blandness of your 
temper 2 to utter unduly this speech. "What ! do you 
ask me, king, whence is the family of the girl ? 
You, who know the predestined end of all things, 
and all ways, and who well discern how many leaves 
the earth sends forth in spring, and the number of 
the sands that are stirred in the sea and the rivers 
by the waves and the fitful changes of the winds, 
and what is about to happen, and from what source 
it will come. But if I must match myself even 
against a wise god, I will speak. It was as a hus- 
band to this maid that you came to this glen ; and it 
is fated that you should take her over the sea to the 



1 Lit., "to apply to her a renowned (k\vto.v) hand," — a difficult 
expression. Like manutn iujicere, it is a formula for taking possession. 
Dr. Donaldson thinks " open concubinage" is conveyed by the epithet, 
which others render "godlike." 

2 Your courtesy in asking my advice has led you, an infallible god, 
to put questions ill-suited to your character as omniscient. For 
TrapcpdjjLev compare 01. vii. 66. 



142 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [53-65 

fair garden of Zeus, 1 where you shall establish her 
as the presiding genius of the city, having collected 
an island people to a hill 2 surrounded by a plain. 
Yet for the present queenly Libya 3 with her broad 
meadows shall receive for you with a friendly wel- 
come the comely bride in golden chambers ; and 
there forthwith she will give her a share in the land, 
to become an occupier of it 4 with herself, — a share 
rich in fruit-bearing plants of all kinds, 5 and no 
stranger to wild beasts. There she shall give birth 
to a son, whom far-famed Hermes shall take up from 
his dear mother's hands, and carry to the goddesses 
of the Seasons, throned on their happy seats, and to 
Earth (to nurse) ; and they setting down the infant 
in their lap, shall drop nectar and ambrosia on his 
lips, and shall regard him as an immortal, a Zeus or 
a holy Apollo, 6 a most ready help to men whom he 
loves, and a tender of sheep ; so that some shall call 
him Agreus and Nomius, and others Aristaeus." 7 

1 The oasis of Jupiter Ammon. 

2 apyaevTi jxacrrcp, Pyth. iv. 8. From Thera the colonists went to 
Cyrene. 

3 The mythical daughter of Epaphus. See on Isthm. i. 1. 

4 This rare word epuofios, " an inhabitant," is commonly misun- 
derstood. It occurs also in iEsch. Suppl. 559, fiporol 5' ot yas t6t* 
^(TOLV euuofxoi. 

5 The silphium is perhaps alluded to, as well as cereal crops. Lit., 
" neither without a return (or tribute, iroiy^) from all-producing 
plants, nor unacquainted with wild beasts." Catullus, Carm. vii. 4, 
has " laserpiciferae Cyrenae." Plautus, Eudens, 630-3. 

6 Compare iEsch. Ag. 55, vttcltos 5' clicdv $ ris 'AttoWccp $) Zevs. 

7 Quasi debv dpiarou ovra, viz., as x^Pt 101, ^porols. The other 
epithets are shepherd's attributes. This is the "pastor Aristaeus " of 
Virg. Georg. iv. 317. 



66-81] PYTHIAN ODE IX. 143 

By these words he prepared him to carry into effect 
the sweet consummation of marriage. And quick is 
the action 1 of the gods when once they are in 
earnest, and short are the roads. That day decided 
the matter, and they were united in Libya's richly- 
gilt marriage-chamber, (on the very spot) where now 
she frequents a city most beautiful (in its site) and 
renowned in contests. And now at sacred Pytho the 
son of Carneades (Telesicrates) has brought it into 
flourishing fortune ; for by his victory there he has 
shed glory 2 on Oyrene, which will now receive him 3 
with a hearty welcome on bringing back from Delphi 
much-coveted renown to the land of fair women. 
Great deeds of valour always call for many words ; 
yet "to speak cleverly a little on a long subject" 
is a saying for poets to hear. 4 A knowledge of the 
right time holds the first place in everything alike. 
Seven- gated Thebes once had reason to know that 
her Iolaus did not slight it ; for, after he had dealt 
havoc to the head of Eurystheus by the edge of the 
sword, she buried him beneath the earth in the tomb 

1 More properly, "the accomplishment," or " accomplishing.' ' 

2 Our phrase "shown up," is exactly auecprjue, but we use it only 
in a bad sense. The meaning is, ai/€Kripv£e. 

3 The victor therefore had not yet returned to Cyrene, or at least, 
he could only just have arrived From the name of his father, 
Carneades, who is believed to have belonged to the clan of the Ae"-idae 
it has been inferred that this ode was sung at Thebes. 

4 Compare Pyth. iv. 248. This seems a hit at rival poets, as 
if he had said, " I will say little on a long theme, whereas most poets 
say much about trifling matters." 



144 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [81-94 

of the chariot-driver 1 Amphitryon, where his grand- 
sire was laid, a guest of the Sparti, having come to 
reside in the streets of the white-horsed Cadmeans. 
By union both with him and with Zeus the shrewd- 
minded Alcmena brought forth at one birth twin 
sons of strength mighty in battle. Dull is the man 
who applies not his voice to (the praises of) Hercules, 
and does not ever make mention of the waters of 
Dirce, which nurtured him and Iphicles. 2 To them 
I will raise the comus-song, for having received a 
benefit accomplished for me in answer to a prayer 3 
that the clear light of the loud-voiced goddesses of song 
might never desert me. For I may state that on two 
other occasions I have had to eulogise this city, (for 
victories) at Aegina and the hill of JSTisus, 4 and have 
escaped the embarrassment of silence by completing 
a hymn. 5 Wherefore, if any one of the citizens be 
a friend, or if any be an enemy, let him not try to 



1 Iolaus was the hero who especially represented the art of chariot- 
driving, — a sort of typical coachman, so to speak, — and hence Thebes 
intended his memory a compliment by laying him in the tomb of his 
grandfather, himself an alien, and only a naturalized sojourner at 
Thebes. The Kcufjbs which Iolaus had observed, was killing Eurys- 
theus just at the right time ; for he died himself of old age imme- 
diately afterwards. 

2 The poet means, that though he wishes to be brief, still as a 
Theban he must say a word in praise of the local heroes. 

3 " His prayer was, that the Graces migh assist him to sing the 
praises of Telesicrates the Aegid, and that Telesicrates might be 
successful." — Donaldson. 

4 Megara. He means to include in the three victories won by men 
of Cyrene, the present one at Pytho. 

5 Dr. Donaldson renders epycp "by my exertions." 



93-111] PYTHIAN ODE IX. 145 

hide at least what has been well done in the common 
cause, and so cast discredit on the saying of the old 
man of the sea (Nereus). For he told us to praise 
with all our heart even an enemy, at least when he 
did well disinterestedly. Victorious in many contests 
have the maidens seen you also at the anniversary 
of the festival of Pallas ; l and silently they prayed, 
each for herself, that (such a one as you), Telesi- 
crates, might be a beloved husband or a son. At the 
Olympian games too, and those of the deep-bosomed 
Earth, 2 and in all the local contests (they saw you a 
victor). Be this as it may, the ancient renown of 
your ancestors exacts of me a debt, to rouse it again 
from its slumbers 3 in satisfying my thirst for song : 
how that some of them went to the city Irasa for a 
Libyan woman, suitors for the hand of the fair- 
haired and greatly-praised daughter of Antaeus ; 
whom many chiefs of men, her own relations, were 
asking in marriage, and many also among strangers ; 
for her beauty was admired by all, and they longed 
to cull the fruit of her golden-crowned youth after 
it had blossomed. 4 But her father planned a raar- 

1 At Cyrene, probably. 

2 That is, Delphi, where Earth was worshipped as a goddess. 

3 Compare Isthm. iii. 41. The sense is, that even if Telesicrates 
had not been a victor, Pindar could not have resisted the desire, in his 
fondness for chivalrous poetry, of celebrating the ancestors of the 
man. The passage is very difficult, and cannot in this place be dis- 
cussed critically. Both Schneidewin and Mommsen give ira\aiai/ 
S^|av €u>v TTpoySvcov, which is found in some of the later copies. 

4 A metaphor from ripening fruits on a tree. 

10 



146 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [111-125 

riage of higher repute for his daughter ; and (it 
seems) he had heard how of yore Danaus at Argos 
had devised a very speedy 1 wedding for his forty- 
eight virgin daughters, 'ere mid-day had come upon 
them. For he at once stationed the whole company 
of them at the end of the race-course, and bade them 
decide by a contest of speed 2 which maiden each of 
the heroes should have, who had come as suitors for 
them. Following this example the Libyan man 
(Antaeus) gave his daughter a bridegroom, uniting 
them in marriage. The maid he stationed at the 
goal, having dressed her in fine clothes, to be the 
prize at the end. And he said in presence of them 
all, that he should lead her away for his bride who 
should prove foremost in the race and first touch the 
garments upon her. Thereupon Alexidamus 3 after 
clearing the rapid course, took the well-born maiden 
by the hand 4 and conducted her through the throng 
of mounted Nomades. Many leaves upon him and 
wreaths did they throw ; and many plumes of vic- 
tories he had before received. 5 

1 There is a play on the sense of GDKVTarop, which has reference also 
to the speed in the race. Compare irodapK^s afitpa, 01. xiii. 38. 

2 This very ancient custom, of which the chariot-race of Pelops to 
win Hippodamia is an example, is still retained in the Scandinavian 
" quan-fang" (or quean-catching). 

3 One of the ancestors of the present victor. 

4 " Having taken in his hand the maiden hy her hand." 

5 That is, this rendered the applause still greater. 



147 



ODE X. 

The date of this ode, which is the earliest of 
Pindar's extant compositions, is B.C. 502. It com- 
memorates the victory of Hippocleas, a Thessalian 
boy, probably of the family of the Aleuadae, in the 
double foot-race, i.e., both up and down the stadium. 
The ode appears to have been sung at Pelinnaeum, 
the birthplace of Hippocleas ; and the poet had been 
commissioned to compose it by Thorax, a member of 
the same great Thessalian clan. The allusions to 
Perseus (ver. 31 seqq.) appear to have been intro- 
duced because he was the most renowned ancestor of 
Hercules, from whom the Aleuadae traced their 
descent. The chorus of men (ver. 6) was hired from 
Ephyra (ver. 55) or Crannon, the seat of another 
and kindred Heraclid family, the Creondae (Theocr. 
xvi. 34-39). 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

Lacedaemon and Thessaly are both great because both 
derive their people from Hercules. — The victory is referred 
to the favour of Apollo, albeit the father also had been 
successful at Pytho and twice at Olympia. — Prayer that they 
may escape the envy which too often follows prosperity. — 
Hippocleas has already attained the height of human glory. — 
Legend of Perseus and his journey to the Hyperboreans. — 



148 THE ODES OF PINDAR. L 1 " 14 

Description of that happy race. — The poet recals himself 
from the digression. — Hopes of future successes for Hippo- 
cleas. — Compliment to Thorax and his brothers for their 
good administration of state-affairs (Herod, ix. 58). 

Happy 1 is Lacedaemon, blessed is Thessaly ; and 
over both reigns a race descended from one father, 
Hercules, 2 bravest in the fight. (Some will ask,) why 
am I uttering boasts that are out of place ? Because 
Pytho and the Pelinnaeum 3 summon me, and the 
sons of Aleuas, who want to conduct a comus of 
loud-voiced men for Hippocleas ; for (young as he 
is) he already takes his part in contests, 4 and to the 
assembled throng of the neighbouring peoples the 
vale at the foot of Parnassus has proclaimed him 
first of the boys in the race of the double course. 
Apollo, sweet is the success of men, and the enter- 
prise has the surer chance when the god speeds it. 5 
It may well be that by thy designs the victor hath 
achieved this ; and his inborn valour has gone in the 
steps of his father, twice a victor at Olympia with 
the shield 6 that bears the brunt of war; beside 



1 The notion of prosperity and happiness resulting from wealth is 
not easy to render in one word. " If Sparta is well-to-do (as we say), 
Thessaly is ever blessed," which is a somewhat higher term of praise. 

2 Or, "the race of Hercules descended from a common ancestor," 
viz., either Zeus or Perseus. 

3 A city in Thessaly, the birth-place of the victor. 

4 Libat certamina ; he is taking his first taste, as it were. 

5 Lit., " sweet is the end of men, and the beginning is improved 
when fortune starts it." 

6 That is, as a dirXirodpSfMos. 



15 " 34 ] PYTHIAN ODE X. 149 

which, the contest in the fertile mead beneath the 
cliff of Cirrha's hill gave Phrikias 1 the victory in 
strength of foot. May luck attend them, so that 
even in after days they may thrive in ennobling 
wealth. 2 But having obtained no small share of the 
pleasures which Hellas has in store to give, may they 
meet with no reverses through envy on the part of 
the gods ! A god indeed is ever 3 free from grief at 
his heart ; but happy (also) is that man, and a theme 
of praise for poets, who through superiority in hands 
or in swiftness of feet has won the greatest of prizes 
by courage combined with strength, and while yet 
alive has seen his young son by favour of fortune 
obtaining the Pythian garlands. The brazen vault 
of heaven indeed will never be accessible to him ; but 
whatever glories we of mortal race can reach, he goes 
through all of them to the very end of the voyage. 4 
But neither by ships nor by a journey on foot will 
you find out the mysterious road to the people of the 
Hyperboreans. 5 Yet of old the chieftain Perseus 
entered their houses and feasted with them, having 
suddenly come upon 6 them as they were sacri- 

1 Probably the name of a horse belonging to the victor's father, 
that had won in a Pythian chariot-race. 

2 Lit., " for wealth to flourish for them" (the victor and his father). 

3 Schneidewin reads ael for efy, and this seems an almost necessary 
correction. 4 See Isthm. iii. 30. 

5 See 01. iii. 16. The expression seems proverbial. 

6 See Pyth. iv. 25. It may be inferred from this passage that 
Apollo, like Pan, as a shepherd's god, Nofxios, was worshipped with 
phallic rites. 



150 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [33-49 

ficing choice hecatombs of asses to the god. For in 
their banquets and paeans Apollo at all times takes 
special delight, and laughs when he sees the rampant 
lewdness of the brutes. The Muse too is ever pre- 
sent to crown their joys; 1 and everywhere maiden 
dances with the loud tones of lutes and the clear 
ringing sounds of pipes move to and fro in the city. 
And there, braiding their locks with gilded bay- 
leaves, they feast right cheerily. And neither 
diseases nor deadly eld have aught to do with that 
sacred race ; but without toils or contests they live, 
escaping the rigidly exacting Nemesis. 2 So then, 
(as I said,) with the spirit of a bold heart the son of 
Danae went in times of yore, — and Athena was his 
leader and guide — to the company of that blessed 
race. The Gorgon also he slew, and came bringing 
a stony death to the island people (of Seriphus by 
showing them) her head speckled o'er with snaky 
locks. 3 But to me nothing ever seems incredible, as 



1 Lit., "is not absent in (is present at) their habits," i.e., accom- 
panies their ways of life. A difficult expression to render. 

2 The happiness of the Hyperboreans, — a nation perhaps wholly 
mythical, the creature of fancy acting on vague reports of travellers 
beyond Hellas, — was proverbial. So Aesch. Cho. 373, fieydXrjs 5e 
rvxys kcl\ 'Tnepfiopeov fiei&va cpooveh. 

3 See Pyth. xii. 15. We can only guess why Pindar thus dwells on 
the story of Perseus. It is quite his style and manner, when he has men- 
tioned some great hero of note, to go into the details of his story, e.g., as 
with Pelops in 01. i. 25 seqq. But Dr. Donaldson thinks, with Boeckh, 
that it is meant as a compliment to the Thessalian family of the 
Aleuadae, who traced their descent from Hercules and Perseus. 



49 ~ 6 7] PYTHIAN ODE X. 151 

an object of my wonder, when the gods effect it. 
Check the speed of the oar, and quickly fasten firm 
in the ground the anchor from the prow, to keep us 
from running on the sunken reef ; for the flower of 
my comus-song is going off from one subject to 
another like a honey-bee. I hope that, as the 
Ephyreans 1 pour forth my sweet strains by the banks 
of Peneus, I shall make our Hippocleas even yet 
more distinguished by my songs, 2 among both his 
coequals and his seniors, and an object of tender 
regard to young maidens, for wreaths won in the 
contest. For the love of different things gently 
stirs the minds of different persons ; but by attain- 
ing what each man aspires to, he will have gained 
the eager desire for the day ; yet what is to happen 
a year hence, it surpasses conjecture to forecast. 3 I 
trust to the courteous hospitality of Thorax/ who, 
with a busy zeal in my interest, has yoked this four- 
horsed car of the Pierides, holding me in a mutual 
regard, and leading me in all good will when I 
take him along with me. As gold is visibly known 

1 That is, the chorus of youths of Crannon, in Thessaly, compatriots 
of the victor. 

2 Lit., " (accompanied) with songs," viz., in a comus. 

8 An obscure passage, the sense of which probably is, that the 
natural bent or taste of Hippocleas is for contests ; he has won already 
in one, which satisfies his present desire ; but he aspires to try his luck 
in others, the result of which it is impossible to foretell. 

4 Thorax, an Aleuad, had engaged Pindar, as an act of friendship, 
to write this ode ; and Pindar perhaps means, that he trusts to him for 
adequate remuneration ; for he elsewhere avows that his Muse is 
<pt\oK€pd^]s t Isthm. ii. 6. 



152 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [67-72 

to him who tries it on the touchstone, so also is a 
right mind seen. For his high-born brothers too we 
shall have a word of praise, for that they aggrandise 
and extol the republic of the Thessalians. And in 
the hands of the well-born lies the good government 
of states inherited from their fathers. 



153 



ODE XI. 

On the victory of Thrasydaeus, a Theban boy, in 
the stadium or foot-race. The date of this ode is 
B.C. 478, less than two years after the battle of 
Plataea ; and some of the more obscure allusions in 
the ode, as that to the fate of Clytemnestra (ver. 36), 
and to the rule of tyrants (ver. 53), have been ex- 
plained as having reference to the previous pre- 
dominance of Persian influence at Thebes. (Thucyd. 
iii. 62, oirep earl vofjbois fiev /ecu ra> aod^povearcurco 
ivavridoTCLTov, iyyvrdrco 8e rvpdvvov, hwaareia okcycov 
av&pcov el^e ra irpdy/jbara.) Dr. Donaldson thinks 
we cannot fairly infer more than that some one of 
the victor's friends or relatives had been accused by 
calumnious citizens of too great intimacy with a 
young bride of rank, and put to death ; but that his 
death had been avenged by the family of Thrasydaeus 
after the restoration of freedom. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

The heroine-daughters of Cadmus are invoked to accom- 
pany the comus to the shrine of the Ismenian Apollo. — Living 
near the land of Phocis, the country of Pylades, the victor 
recals to mind the story of Clytemnestra. — Apology for the 
apparent digression. — Victories won by Thrasydaeus and his 



154 THE ODES OF PINDAR. t 1 " 16 

father at Olympia and Pytho. — Praise of the middle party in 
the state. — It was through their moderation and unselfishness 
that Iolaus and the Dioscuri became famous in song. 

Daughters of Cadmus, Semele, neighbour of the 
goddesses in Olympus, and Ino Leucothea that 
sharest the dwelling of the ocean Nereids, go with 
that parent of a most noble offspring, the mother of 
Hercules, to the shrine of the nymph Melia, 1 and 
enter the adytum where golden tripods are stored, 
the shrine loved beyond others by Loxias, and called 
by him Ismenian, the truthful seat of oracles. 2 (Go, 
I say,) daughters of Harmonia, where e'en now he 
summons the company of national heroines to meet 
in full assembly, that ye may sing at early even- 
tide of holy Themis 3 and Pytho and the central altar 
of Earth, the seat of upright justice, in compliment 
to the seven-gated Thebes and the contest at Cirrha, 
at which Thrasydaeus has made his paternal hearth 4 
memorable by throwing on it a third wreath, as a 
conqueror in the rich corn-lands of Pylades, 5 the 
host of the Laconian Orestes. For him, at the time 



1 "Melia, who bore Ismenns and Tenerus to Apollo (Pausan. x. 10, 
§ 5), was worshipped together with them, in this temple, to which the 
other heroines are invited." — Br. Donaldson. 

2 fiaPTticov, not fjLaurlcov y is the reading of Mommsen. The et is 
legitimately made short. 

3 The prophetess at Delphi. Aesch. Eum. 2. 

4 See ver. 43. The simple meaning is, that the Theban Thrasy- 
daens, being a victor in Apollo's games at Pytho, has his comus-song 
sung at the Ismenian temple of Apollo at Thebes. 

s Phocis. 



17-33] PYTHIAN ODE XI. 155 

of his father's murder, Arsinoa his nurse took from 
under the strong grasp 1 of Clytemnestra, and re- 
moved from the woeful death-plot, when that relent- 
less woman sent on her way to the shadowy bank of 
Acheron the Dardanian daughter of Priam, Cassandra, 
with the soul of Agamemnon, slain by the gleaming 
brass. Was it then the slaughter of Iphigenia at 
Euripus, far from her native land, that stung her so 
as to rouse her deeply-plotting wrath? 2 Or did 
nightly amours lead her astray, seduced by the bed 
of another ? But that for young brides is a most 
odious crime, and one difficult for the tongues of 
other people 3 to hide under a veil. And citizens are 
prone to slanderous talk. 4 For prosperity has to 
sustain a jealousy great in proportion to it, while he 
who has low aspirations murmurs in secret. 5 Thus 
the hero himself died, the son of Atreus, at the 
far-famed Amyclae, and caused the death of the 



1 Or, "the cruel hands." So Homer has Kparephs fivOos, etc. 

2 This subject, which is very slightly touched upon in our Homeric 
text (in which Iphigenia is not even mentioned by name, nor is there 
any allusion to her death at Aulis) must have been one of the most 
prominent and popular " Homeric" themes 500 b.c. Aeschylus, 
Pindar's contemporary, composed the Agamemnon and the Choephorce 
entirely upon it. 

3 Or, perhaps, " difficult to hide through (or because of) the talk of 
strange people." 

4 ttcls 5' eV fxeroiKCt} y\co<T(Tav etirvKov (pepei kclktiv, Aesch. Suppl. 
994. The citizens here seem purposely opposed to the aWSrpioi. 

5 The sense is, that no one cares when an obscure man is wronged ; 
he grumbles, as it were, or has to complain, in secret. Compare tnrb 
a-Kdrcp y3p€yu.etj/, Aesch. Ag. 998. 



156 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [33-49 

inspired girl, long after that 1 he had loosed from 
their luxury the homes of the Trojans who had been 
consumed on the pyre in the cause of Helen. 2 'Twas 
then that Orestes came, a mere child, to his aged 
host Strophius, living at the foot of Parnassus. But 
with a late vengeance he slew his mother and left 
Aegisthus to welter in his blood. Of a surety, good 
friends, I have gone in a circle by triple roads that 
pass into each other, 3 though heretofore I pursued a 
straight path. Or has some wind cast me out of my 
course, as when it takes a boat on the sea ? But 'tis 
your part, my Muse, as you did engage to lend for 
hire your silvered voice, to raise it now on one sub- 
ject, now on another, even as at present for the 
father as a victor at Pytho, or for Thrasy- 
daeus; for their festive honours and their glory 
brightly shine. 4 On a former occasion, by victories 
long ago gained in the chariot race, they attained 
the glory of speed with horses at Olympia in the 
much talked of contests ; and now by entering the 

1 I construe XP^V ^l eXvcre etc., believing that Dr. Donaldson is 
mistaken in his theory of xp<W>- /c * UT0 " s an( i hdyy-iraXaias here and in 
Aeschylus. — The Pindaric account, that Agamemnon was killed at 
Amyclae, not at Argos, is remarkable. As this is an Aeolian ode, one 
is tempted to read kAvtoIs iv 'AfivKhais, i.e. k\vtcls is 'A/xu/cAas, com- 
paring Pyth. ii. 11. (The Aeolic accent, however, is rather K\vrais in 
the accusative.) 

2 Or. "had their city burnt," as in Pyth. v. 78. The simple sense 
is, " when he had punished Troy for its pride." 

3 A metaphor from a labyrinth, in which a man often finds himself 
in the same place whence he started. 

4 Or perhaps, " render them illustrious," as in 01. ix. 22. 



49 ~ 62 J PYTHIAN ODE XI. 157 

lists at Pytho in the race with lightly-clad runners, 
they have put to the test 1 the Hellenic host in 
respect of speed. ^lay I obtain from the gods the 
desire to love what is right, pursuing objects accord- 
ing to my means 2 in the prime of my life. For 
finding that of parties in the state those who pursue 
the middle course thrive with a more enduring pros- 
perity, I think less of the condition of sovereign 
sway. It is on the deeds of valour of the citizens 
in general 3 that I devote my energies ; and the 
jealous are disarmed when a man has won the first 
of these honours, 4 and by enjoying it quietly, escapes 
the charge of offensive insolence. At the close too 
he will find gloomy death less terrible, 5 when he has 
bequeathed to his much-beloved family that best of 
possessions, the blessing of a good name. Tis this 
which carries over the world and makes the theme of 
song the name of Iolaus the son of Iphiclus, and 
the mighty Castor, thee likewise, king Polydeuces, 



1 Or, "refuted them in speed," i.e., shown them to be inferior. 
The victories which the poet attributes to both in common were really 
that of the father at Olympia with the car, and that of the son at 
Pytho in the race. 

2 This seems directed at certain aspiring political factions. 

3 Not those of a particular party. It is likely that Pindar had been 
maligned for not lending himself to some influential clan at Thebes. 

4 Taj/5' is Dr. Donaldson's reading, which is not however quite 
satisfactory. Schneidewin follows Hermann, <pdov€pol 5' a^vvovrai 
arai, " evil consequences are kept off." Mommsen retains the vulgate 

6 Lit., "he will have a better death ;" but the epithet /xeAava does 
not fall in with our idiomatic phrase. 



158 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [62-64 

twin sons of the gods, who dwell every other day 
in your native seat at Therapnae, and by turn in 
the abodes of Olympus. 1 

1 See Nem. x. 55. Horn. Od. xi. 303. Hence Martial has alternum 
Castor a, Ep. ix. 51. There can be no doubt that one form of worship 
made them elemental gods, representing the sun and the moon, which 
for half their time are hidden from earth. 



159 



ODE XII. 

This ode celebrates a victory won by Midas of 
Agrigentum in flute-playing. It is an early compo- 
sition, and is referred either to B.C. 494 or to 490, in 
both, which years Midas gained the prize. The 
av\b$ was an instrument rather resembling our 
clarionet than our flute, and had deep loud tones, 
with a kind of drone or sibilant note, as is clear from 
the account of its having been made to imitate the 
sounds proceeding from the dying Gorgon and her 
snakes. The ode was sung at Agrigentum, perhaps 
at the shrine of the presiding Nymph, who seems 
alluded to in the opening lines. 

SUMMAEY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

The city is asked to give Midas a hearty welcome on his 
return. — Pallas first invented the pipe to imitate the death- 
groans of the Gorgon when slain by Perseus — The adventures 
of that hero and his birth from Zeus. — The pipe given to 
men to rouse their courage by its martial strains. — Labour 
and pains are at all times necessary to ensure success. 

I implore thee, lover of glory, most beauteous of 
the cities of men, the sacred abode of Persephone, 
who on the banks of sheep-pasturing Agragas in- 



160 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [3-17 

habitest a well-built acropolis, queen, 1 receive 
propitiously and with the goodwill both of gods and 
men this crown won at Pytho by the renowned 
Midas. Receive too the victor himself, who has 
beaten all Hellas in the art which erst Pallas Athena 
invented, when she set to music the dismal death- 
dirge 2 of the savage Gorgons. (Such were the sounds) 
which she heard poured forthwith doleful death-pangs 
by the voices of the maidens and the threatening heads 
of the snakes, 3 when Perseus had made an end 4 of one 
of the triple sisterhood, bringing death to sea-girt 
Seriphus and its hosts. 5 'Twas thus too he deprived 
of sight 6 the supernatural brood of Phorcus, and 
made the marriage- contribution a fatal one for 
Polydectes, and his mother's slavery and captive bed 
to endure for all time, by carrying off the head of the 
fair-cheeked Medusa, — this son of Danae, who as 



1 Here, as in Isthm. i. 1, the city is personified, or identified with 
the presiding goddess or nymph. 

2 The drone or reed-note of the av\bs, or clarionet, was supposed to 
imitate the sounds made by the dying Gorgon. 

3 By " the maidens' heads and the unapproachable snakes' heads," 
the hisses of the latter blending with the groans of the former are 
described. 

4 So Horn. II. xi. 365, ^ 6)jv i^avvco <re Kal varepov avrifioXrio-as. 
The " third part of the sisters" means one of the three Gorgons, Medusa. 
Compare iraicrlu oyfioov fiepos, Pyth. iv. 65. 

5 Ey turning them into stone. The legend is well given in Dr. 
Donaldson's note. 

6 The Phorcides had only one eye in common between them, Aesch. 
Prom. 795. Perseus seems to have stolen the eye because they acted as 
irpo(pv\aK€s to the Gorgons. Or the meaning may be, that he con- 
quered them as well as Polydectes, king of Seriphus, by showing the 
head of the Gorgon. 



17-32] PYTHIAN ODE XII, 161 

we say was born from a spontaneous shower of gold. 
But when she had delivered her favourite hero from 
these labours, the maiden goddess set about making 
the many-toned melody of flutes, in order that she 
might imitate with instruments the loudly-uttered 
groan which reached her ears from the ravening 
jaws of Euryale. A goddess it was who invented 
it ; but having done this for the use of mortal man, 
she called it the many-headed tune, 1 the glorious 
reminder of host- stirring contests, when it passes 
at once through the thin brass 2 and the reeds which 
grow near the dance-loving city of the Graces, in 
the sacred ground of the nymph of Cephisus, the 
trusty witnesses of the dancers' skill. But if there 
is any prosperity among men, it is not realised with- 
out toil ; the god may indeed bring it to pass even the 
same day, but what is destined 3 is not to be avoided. 
Albeit the time will come, which will even take a 
man by surprise, and give him one thing contrary to 
his expectation, while another it will defer. 4 

1 A kind of flute-music was called iro\vK€(pa\os vSfios, as Dr. 
Donaldson shows from Plutarch. It was an opdios vo/jlos 7 a rousing 
and inspiring military strain. 

2 The vibrating tongue, perhaps, such as is seen in the modern 
accordion. Dr. Donaldson explains it of the mouth-piece, in which 
case XewTov will mean, " tapered to a point." 

3 Viz., the Ka/xaTos, which is the condition of the oAjSos. 

4 This is probably said in reference to victories won and expected. 



11 



162 



NEMEAN ODES. 



I. 

To Chromius, of Aetna (the city founded by 
Hiero, Pyth. i. 31), the son of Agesidamus, and the 
brother-in-law of Hiero, for his victory with 
"horses." 1 The date is B.C. 473, about three years 
after the founding of the new city ; and it was in 
compliment to it and to Hiero that the victor is 
called an " Aetnean," for he was reallv a native of 
Syracuse. It is probable that the story of the exploit 
of Hercules in strangling the two snakes has an allu- 
sion to the Hyllean tribe to which the victor belonged. 
This ode was sung before his house in Ortygia (a part 
of Syracuse) (eV avXelai? 6 v pais, x. ver. 19), as a pre- 
lude to the eTuvitaa, or feast in honour of the occasion. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

Ortygia is addressed as a specially sacred place, and as the 
home of the victor. — The renown of Sicily for its wealth 
and fertility, and its fame in the contests. — The hospitality of 
Chromius has secured for him many friends. — His good use 
of his wealth — Legend of the infant Hercules and the two 

1 Perhaps by 'Uirois the horses yoked four abreast (Nem. vii. 93) 
are meant ; whereas apfia was the two-horsed car, uxos or air^yrj the 
mule-car, and k4\t}s (Lat. celer) the single riding-horse. 



1-1*] NEMEAN ODE I. 163 

dragons. — The prophecy of Teiresias of the future greatness 
of Hercules, by which (ver. 65) it is intimated that the pre- 
sent victor, Chromius, was born to perform great things. 

Hallowed resting-place of Alpheus, pride 1 of 
renowned Syracuse, Ortygia, 2 whereon Artemis takes 
her repose, sister of Delos ! from thee the sweet- 
voiced strain proceeds, to set up a loud praise of the 
storm-footed steeds in honour of Zeus the god of 
Aetna. 3 For now the chariot-race of Chromius at 
Nemea prompts me to adapt the music of a comus- 
song to his victorious exploits. Thus a beginning 
from the gods is furnished me by the goodly deeds 
of that hero. 4 Success ever ensures the highest 
praise from all. 5 Of great contests the Muse de- 
lights to make mention. Sow now with lavish hand 
some words of praise for an island which Zeus the 
lord of Olympus gave to Persephone, and pledged 

1 Others render 6d\os by " scion" or "branch," i.e., district or 
division. 

- Ortygia was the peninsular part of the city of Syracuse, where 
Artemis was worshipped as irora^ia, from her supposed connexion with 
the Naiad nymph Arethusa, to whom she gave refuge when pursued by 
the river Alpheus. Bee J'vth. ii. 6. Diodor. Sic. v. 3, ad tin. Soph. 
Trach. 212. Artemifl was the patroness of persecuted virgins; see 
Aesch. Buppl. 148. The place (an island originally) is called the 
" sister of Delos" because Artemis was worshipped there also in com- 
mon with her brother Apollo. 

3 The city so called, Pyth. i. 60. 

4 The sense appears to be, that the mention of Artemis and Zeus at 
the beginning of the ode is suggested by the victory of Chromius. 
Lit., "A foundation is Laid of the gods," viz., of praising them. 
Compare inf. ii. 4, KaraPoKav Upuu a.yu>i/wv. 

3 01. V. 16, ev 5e tvxovtzs crocpol Kal TroKirais e5o|aj/ ifxfxsv. Lit., 
"there is in success the height (or choicest reward) of general reputa- 
tion," i.e., either of credit from all, or credit for all accomplishments. 



164 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [14-30 

to her by his sacred locks 1 to extol to the skies, 
by the wealth of its aspiring citadels, Sicily the 
fertile, as the best land in all the fruitful earth. 
Then did the son of Cronus give her a host that rode 
with the lance, a wooer of brazen-mailed war, and 
one that was* familiar with the glittering leaves 
of the olives of Olympia. I have set my foot for an 
aim 3 at many things, and have not struck them with 
the arrow of falsehood ; but I stand at the hall- door 
of a hospitable man 4 to sing of his noble deeds, 
where a friendly banquet is laid out for me ; and 
many a time has the house known how to receive 
wayfarers from other lands. Good men and true 5 
hath he found to throw water upon the smouldering 
fire of grumblers. Some men are skilled in one art, 
some in others ; but one should go on in a straight 
path and contend by force of genius. 6 For strength 
succeeds in action, but mind in counsel, in those who 
have the natural gift of foreseeing what is yet to be. 
Now in your character,, son of Aenesidamus, there are 
ways of employing both this virtue and that. 7 I care 

1 By a nod which shook his locks. 

2 Lit., " at once mindful (or studious) of war, and associated with 
the gilded leaves of Olympian olives." For fxixdevra compare Kpdrei 
7rpoo-eiuL^6, 01. i. 22. 

3 This is a common sense of Kaiphs, " a mark in shooting." 
hrifirjvai is a figure from the position of an archer, like Zutqlv in the 
next verse. 

4 The victor's house at Ortygia. 

5 Under this epithet evBkovs the poet includes himself. 

6 Not by unfair means, or by taking advantage of accidents, etc. 

7 You are distinguished for prudence as well as for valour. 



31 " 49 ] NEMEAN ODE I. 165 

not to keep buried in my hall great wealth, but I 
prefer to enjoy what I have, and to be called liberal 
to my friends ; for the hopes of much-toiling men 
proceed on common interests. For my part I gladly 
adhere to Hercules as my theme, citing an ancient 
story to illustrate surpassing deeds of mighty valour ; 
how that, when the son of Zeus escaping from the birth 
pangs had come forth at once 1 from his mother's 
womb with his twin brother into the glorious light, 
he stepped into the saffron-dyed swathing bands not 
unobserved of Hera of the golden throne. But the 
Queen of the gods incensed with rage forthwith 
sent (two) snakes, which on the door being opened 
invaded the retirement of the spacious chamber, eager 
to entwine round the infants their nimble jaws. 2 But 
Hercules raised his head erect, 3 and first essayed the 
fight, by seizing with both his clinched hands the two 
snakes by their necks : 4 and as he held them with a 
firm grip, time (soon) forced the breath of life out of 
their monstrous bodies. And a stroke of fear, too 
great to endure, scared out of their senses the 

1 See on 01. vi. 44. The word iyKare^a seems intended to express 
a supernatural action for an infant. 

2 That is, to wriggle round them quickly and bite them. In II. ii. 
316, i\€\L^dfji€uos is similarly used of the tortuous movements of a 
snake about to seize a bird, and so in Nem. ix. 19, i\e\i^ai aarepoTvav 
means to hurl zigzag lightning. 

s An effort which ordinary infants cannot make. 

4 That is, a snake in each. A fine fresco-painting of this subject 
has been recovered from Herculaneum, and engraved in Raccolta, etc., 
di Ercolano, PL 11. The description is also given in Theocr. xxiv., m 
a passage very closely resembling this ode. 



166 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [49-65 

nurses who were assisting at Alcmena's bed ; (nor 
were they alone alarmed,) for she herself too, rising 
on her feet from the couch, disrobed though she was, 
yet fain would have repelled the attack of the rep- 
tiles. But quickly the leaders of the Oadmeans ran 
together in their brazen arms, and amongst them 
came Amphitryo, brandishing in his hand his sword 
stript from the sheath, smitten with sharp pangs 
of grief : for a family trouble presses on every one 
alike, albeit the heart soon ceases to grieve about 
another's woes. And he stood in amaze with a 
mixed feeling of pleasure and dismay ; for he saw 
the extraordinary courage and might 1 of his son, 
since the immortals had caused that the report of the 
messengers should be the reverse of the truth. And 
forthwith he summoned a neighbour of surpassing 
skill, a prophet of supreme Jove, the infallible seer 
Teiresias ; and he declared to him and to his whole 
host in what adventures he was destined to engage, — 
how many to slay on the mainland, and how many 
lawless monsters 2 on the sea. Some others too, the 
most hostile of men, 3 who trode the path of a per- 

1 huva/jiis perhaps lias the philosophical sense of " capability for 
great deeds." 

2 That is, pirates. The word drjpas is generally explained of the 
various monsters of which Hercules is said to have cleared the seas ; 
but these monsters are only a poetical description of the much-dreaded 
\yo-rai. 

' 3 Meaning, perhaps, Antaeus, Isth. iii. 70. This introduces the 
mention of the other giants, koI yap otclv, etc. But there is supposed 
to be an allusion to the youthful prowess of the victor Chromius at the 
battle of Helorus, (Nem. ix. 40.) 



66 " 72 ] NEMEAN ODE I. 167 

verse pride, lie foretold that lie would give to death. 
"For when the gods/' he said, " shall meet the 
giants in fight on Phlegra's field, by the whirl of his 
darts their bright locks shall be soiled with earth ; 
but he shall himself abide in peace, and enjoy for all 
time uninterrupted repose from his mighty toils, as 
a special reward, in a happy home, having gotten 
Hebe for his blooming bride ; and so, after cele- 
brating his marriage by a feast, he shall have his 
seat by Zeus Cronides and be content with his hal- 
lowed home." l 

1 Or (reading vo\x.ov) "acquiesce in his august law." 



168 



ODE IT. 

Timodemus, an Athenian, of the cleme or district 
of Acharnae, gained the prize in the pancratium, or 
scuffling-match, at Nemea ; but the year of the vic- 
tory is unknown. This ode was probably com- 
posed at Nemea and sung at Athens, by a chorus of 
Acharnians (ver. 24), who were noted for their skill 
in music. " The rhythm is Lydian, with Aeolian 
measures, like Nem. iy., which it also resembles in 
being monostrophic." (Dr. Donaldson.) 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

As the rhapsodists of the Homeric poems begin by in- 
voking Zeus, so this victor has gained his first prize in the 
sacred grove of that god. — The prospects of his future emi- 
nence, since he comes of a good stock (the Timodemidae of 
Salamis). — The fame of Salamis for warriors, and for Ajax 
especially. — Acharnae too has had its renowned heroes. — The 
citizens generally are invited to be present at the singing of 
this comus in the procession. 

As the Homerids, in reciting their epic cantos, 
commonly begin by invoking Zeus ; l so our hero has 

1 Literally, " From what point the Homerids too, bards of verses 
fitted together, mostly begin, from a prelude about Zeus ; so this man 
also has received a foundation of victory in sacred games first in the 
grove," etc. The sense is, "As his first victory is in the games sacred 
to Zeus, he thereby gives an earnest of future successes." The panra 
cttt), or continuous verses, are opposed to those which, like Pindar's 
odes generally (though this is an exception), were arranged in strophes 
and antistrophes. 



3 " 20 ] rfEMEAN ODE II. 169 

received a prize that is the foundation of future vic- 
tories in the sacred games, for the first time in the 
widely-celebrated grove of Nemean Zeus. And it is 
due to a son of Tiruonous, 1 if the present age, con- 
ducting him straight along the path that his sires 
trode, has given him to be an ornament to the great 
Athens, that many more times he should cull the 
most glorious flower of the Isthmian contests, and 
should be a victor also at the Pythian games. For 
His to be expected that Orion's course should be not 
far removed from the mountain-born Pleiades. 2 For 
of a truth Salamis is well able to bring up a man 
for fighting; at Troy Hector felt the prowess of 
Ajax; 3 and so you, Timodemus, are ennobled by 
your courageous endurance in the pancratium. 
Acharnae was famed of old for its heroes ; and in 
all that concerns games, the Timodemidae 4 are 
reckoned as far surpassing the rest. By the high 
commanding hill of Parnassus they carried off four 
victories in the games : more than that, in the vales 



1 6(p€i\€i ircutia, etc., here the verb is equivalent to x?*& v ^ a " r h "it 
is destined that he should win prizes at the Isthmia." 

2 They were said to be daughters of Atlas, whom some legends 
identified with a mountain. As Orion rises soon after the Pleiades, 
the poet augurs that one victory will soon follow another, 'napiow 
is a form of 'HpiW, where the ab represents the digamma, as "Clavts is 
Whanis, 01. v. 11. Both in form and meaning the word is probably- 
identical with our warrior. 

3 The hero of Salamis. A story in the old epics is alluded to, 
similar to that in II. vii. 183 and xiv. 402. 

4 A Salaminian clan to which the victor belonged, though a citizen 
of Acharnae. 



170 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [20-25 

of the well-born Pelops 1 they have come into 
possession of four crowns already, and seven at 
JNemea ; but at home more than can be counted in 
the contest of Zeus. 3 In honour of the god sing, ye 
citizens, a comus-song for Timodemus, and give him 
a glorious return ; and begin the strain 3 with honey- 
sweet voice. . 

1 That is, in the Isthmia, the Isthmus being viewed as part of the 
Peloponnesus. 

2 The Olympia held at Athens. 

3 It has been inferred from this expression that a longer ode was 
intended to follow. But nothing more seems meant than an exhorta- 
tion to the leader of the chorus to begin, and so to start the procession. 



171 



ODE III. 

Aristocleidas of Aegina had won the prize in 
the pancratium at some unknown period considerably 
earlier than the composition of this ode (ver. 80). 
It appears to have been sent on one of the anniver- 
saries of the victory (like Pyth. iii.), and to have 
been sung by a chorus of young men, friends and 
countrymen of the victor's, who are supposed poeti- 
cally (ver. 4) to have gone to Thebes to be taught 
by the poet himself. Perhaps as holding the office 
of Theori to Delphi (ver. 70), they may really have 
stopped at Thebes on some of their visits to the 
Pythian shrine. This ode was sung at the victor's 
house at Aegina (ver. 68). 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

The Muse is invoked to inspire the song, which is the 
tribute demanded by a victory in the Nemean contest. — The 
victor is a worthy representative of the Myrmidons of old, — 
A handsome person combined with valour is all that man can 
aspire to in this world. — The mention of Hercules, as a bene- 
factor of man, is stopped short by the more fitting theme of 
the Aeacidae, and especially of the youthful achievements of 
Achilles. — The glory reflected by this victory on Aegina, and 
on the college of Aeginetan Theori. — The victor combines all 
the characteristic virtues both of youth and age. — The poet 
compares himself to an eagle among inferior birds.— The 



172 THE ODES OF PINDAR. L 1 " 18 

several victories of Aristocleidas at Nemea and other local 
contests. 

Muse divine, our mother, come I beseech, thee 
to the Dorian isle of Aegina, which is thronged with 
visitors on this sacred day of the Nemean games ; 
for there wait for thee by the waters of Asopus 
youthful performers of honey-toned comus-songs, 
eager to hear thy summons. Different successes 
thirst for different rewards ; but victory in the games 
most of all loves song, that fittest follower of crowns 
and deeds of prowess. Of such song do thou grant 
us ample store from our poetic genius, 1 and begin, — 
e'en thou, his daughter, — a goodly strain to the lord 
of the cloud- covered heaven ; I will adapt it to the 
voices of the singers 2 and to the lute. And a pleas- 
ing task they will have, 3 — these youths that are the 
pride of the land where formerly the Myrmidons 
did dwell ; whose place of meeting, 4 famed of old, 
Aristocleidas through thy favour hath not sullied by 
disgrace by losing heart in the sturdy grapple of the 
pancratium ; but a healing remedy of fatiguing blows 
he hath at least 5 won in this victory at the deep- 

1 Compare crocp&v /jl^tUo-g-l in 01. i. 9. 

2 So in Pyth. i, 97, Koivwviav fxaXdaKau iraidcau ddpoiari. 

3 The nominative to e£et is &ya\fia } i.e., the iralhes. But I should 
like to read e|w, " I shall have a pleasing task in paying honour to a 
country," etc. 

4 Viz., for martial exercises and athletic contests. 

5 The 76 appears to mean, that if he has no other consolation for 
his pains and trouble, his present victory at least affords some recom- 
pense. Mommsen reads 4v /3a0u7re5ty N. 



19 ~37] NEMKAN ODE III. 173 

soiled vale of Nemea. And if the son of Aristo- 
phanes is handsome, and by doing handsome deeds 1 
has mounted the summit of manly prowess, 'tis not 
possible for him to go further over unexplored seas 
beyond the pillars of Hercules, which the hero-god 
set as notable witnesses of the limit to navigation : 
he subdued likewise monsters of surpassing size in 
the ocean depths, and found out the river- currents 
in stagnant marshes, where he came to the end of a 
journey that sent him on a return, 2 and defined the 
limits of earth. To what headland in a strange 
country art thou making my voyage to swerve, 
my soul ? I tell thee, thou art to bring thy strain 
to Aeacus and his race ; and just and reasonable it 
is 3 to praise the well-born. The desires for things 
alien are not so good for a man to take up with ; 
seek for (objects to love) at home ; a fitting theme 
you have got for singing something sweet in recount- 
ing deeds of valour of old. King Peleus rejoiced 
when he cut his huge spear ; he who took Iolchos 
alone without an army, and seized and held the sea- 
goddess Thetis 4 by sheer force. (The city of) Lao- 
medon the stalwart Telamon when companion in 

1 Compare 01. viii. 19. 

2 The sense seems to be, that he began clearing, as it were, from the 
furthest point on his journey homewards. 

3 Lit., " the flower of justice attends on reason," or perhaps, "goes 
with my words." 

4 This was a very celebrated subject of ancient poetry and art. A 
very beautiful representation of it has been engraved, from a vase 
dug up at Camirus. 



174 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [ 38 ~54 

arms to Iolaus did sack ; l and on one occasion lie 
went with him to the fight of the Amazons with 
brazen bows ; nor once did the fear that makes other 
men quail check the resolute vigour of his mind, 
"lis by inborn merit that a man has great weight ; 
but he who has but precepts is a frivolous man, 
now aspiring to this, now to that, but never setting 
down a firm well-directed foot ; many enterprises 
does he essay, but ever with futile purpose. Some 
great exploits the fair-haired Achileus performed in 
sport when a boy residing in Philyra's house. Oft- 
times he brandished in his hand a dart with short 
iron point, and with the speed of the winds he dealt 
slaughter to wild lions in the fight. Boars too he 
slew, and brought their still panting bodies to the 
Centaur the son of Cronus, when only six years old 
at first, and for all the time after that. Him 
did Artemis regard with amaze, and the daring 
Athena, when he killed stags without dogs or crafty 
nets ; for by speed of foot he overcame them. And 
I have this story told me by those of old ; deep- 
thoughted Chiron brought up Jason at home in his 
stony grot, and after him Asclepius, 2 whom he 



1 The invasion of Troy by Hercules and Telamon, and the defence 
of the city by the Trojan women, are represented on an extremely 
interesting and early Greek vase found at Vulci, and now in the Leake 
collection in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge. The names of 
the warriors, both male and female, are written over each, as Hercules, 
Telamon, Andromache, Glauce, Alcaea, and others. 

2 See Pyth. iii. 6 ; iv. 102. 



55 ~ 7 °] NEMEAN ODE III. 175 

taught the gentle-handed management of remedies. 
After that again he saw the marriage of the fair- 
wristed daughter of Nereus, 1 and fondled in his arms 
his son of surpassing strength, improving his mind 2 
in all things by fitting exercises, that when wafted 
to Troy by sea-blowing gales of winds he might 
await the spear-beating war-cry of the Lycians, the 
Phrygians, and the Dardani, and joining hands in 
fight with the lance-bearing Aethiopians, he might 
fix in his soul the resolve that their leader, the gal- 
lant cousin of Helenus, 3 Memnon, should not go 
back again to his home. A far-shining light from 
the Aeacidae burns steadfastly 4 in the deeds of their 
own race ; (and no wonder ;) for thine, Zeus, is 
the race, e'en as thine is the contest which my song 
hath taken for a theme, 5 loudly proclaiming by the 
voices of youths a victory of one of the same 
country. 6 And a joyous shout is a fitting meed for 
Aristocleidas the victor, who hath brought this island 
to be spoken of with praise, and the holy college of 
the Pythian god, the Theori (of Aegina), by his 
pursuit of glory in the games. By trial only doth 



1 With Peleus. 

2 Or, " his courage," " spirit " (Qvix6v), 

3 The son of Priam, whose brother Tithonus was the father of 
Memnon. 

4 Lit., "is fixed." Dr. Donaldson renders it, "is connected with 
or depends upon the actions of Achilles." 

5 Lit., " struck," ;.s with a dart or arrow. 

6 The present victor being an Aeginetan. 



176 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [71-84 

the result appear, in what things a man shall prove 
excellent, — whether as a boy among young boys, a 
man amongst men, or thirdly, as taking his part 
among seniors, 1 according as we mortal wights call 
each time of life our own. But long life brings 
even four virtues, 2 and bids us to be wise in present 
circumstances. From these virtues he is not far 
removed. Farewell, my friend. I send you this 
honey mixed with white milk, and mingled dew 3 
crowns it, to form a draught of song to the breathed 
tones of Aeolian flutes, late though it be. The eagle 
is swift among the fowls of the air, for he can seize 
in a moment, chasing it from afar, his speckled prey 4 
in his talons ; but chattering jackdaws frequent low 
places. To you, however, 5 through the favour of 
sainted Cleio, by virtue of your manly bearing in the 
winning of games, from Nemea, Epidaurus, and 
Megara a light shines 6 conspicuously. 

1 That is, in the virtues suited to each age. As a general senti- 
ment, this gives a good and connected meaning : nor need we seek out 
more subtle allusions. 

2 A fourth virtue, prudence in council, is acquired by those who, 
like Nestor, have attained to a very advanced period of life. Compare 
Pyth. iv. 282, iu 8e f3ov\x7s irpeor&vs. Thus the four cardinal virtues 
are exercised at different periods in the life of a man. 

3 The soothing offering of water, honey, milk, and sometimes oil 
and wine, to the spirits of the dead (Aesch. Pers. 611 seqq.) seems 
here alluded to. 

4 The snake : see II. ii. 308. The comparison is intended to show 
Pindar's superiority over his rivals. Compare 01. ii. 88. 

s In 01. ii. 97, the poet says that the direct effect of praise from bad 
poets is Kpvrpov 64/j.eu iu icrQK&u Kdkois. 
6 So k\4os T7)\6dev 5e5op/ce, 01. i. 94. 



177 



ODE IV. 

Timasarchus of Aegina, the son of Timocritus, a 
lyric poet, gained the prize in the wrestling-match 
with boys. The date is unknown, but Dr. Donaldson 
thinks the ode was composed about or a little before 
01. 80, B.C. 460. It was probably sung in procession 
through the streets at Aegina, as those odes which 
are divided into strophe and antistrophe seem to 
have been performed in front of a temple or house. 

SUMMAKY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

Festivity is the best cure for toils undergone. — Poetry an 
enduring monument of prowess. — Aegina is asked favourably 
to accept the ode, which the victor's father, had he been 
alive, would have delighted to compose. — The exploits 
of Hercules in taking Troy and slaying the giants. — The 
poet, though exposed to the envy of his rivals, will not be 
deterred from singing the glories and the wide-spread do- 
minion of the Aeacidae. — The story of Peleus and Hippolyte, 
wife of Acastus. — His marriage with Thetis as a reward of 
his virtue. — The vanity of the attempt to recount all the deeds 
of the Aeacidae. — The clan of the Theandridae is the chief 
object of the ode. — Other members of it, relations of the 
victor, have won victories in their day. — Euphanes, if alive, 
would have sung the praises of Melesias the trainer. 

Festive Mirth is the best physician for a man's 
toils when brought to a close. Songs, the accom- 

12 



178 THE ODES OF PINDAR. C 2 " 20 

plished daughters of the Muses, sooth him by their 
gentle touch. Not so much does warm water soak and 
soften the limbs, as good words set to the music of 
the harp (relieve toil). A saying lives longer than 
deeds, when by favour of the Graces the tongue 
chances to draw it forth from the depth of the 
heart. 1 Be it the first object of my hymn 2 to offer 
this tribute to Oronides Zeus and Nemea, and to the 
wrestling- feat of Timasarchus ; and may it be wel- 
come to the well-fortified stronghold of the 
Aeacidae, that beacon-light of safety to all alike 
for the justice dispensed in aid of strangers. 3 
if your sire Timocritus had still been cheered by 
the sprightly beams of the sun, many a time with 
varied lays on his lute, 4 devoting himself to this 
my present theme, he would have rung out a strain 
of triumph that had brought for thee a wreath of 
garlands from the contest at Cleonae, 5 and from the 
bright Athens of lucky name, 6 and others won at 
seven-gated Thebes; for by the beautiful tomb of 



1 The figure is from an arrow drawn out of a quiver, as in 
01. ii. 90. 

2 TrpoKufiiov may equally well be taken as exegetical of r6 /uloi tfr) 
Be/Aw, "be it mine to offer this as a prelude to my song." 

3 See 01. viii. 21 ; Pyth. viii. 22, where the court of arbitration at 
Aegina obtains special praise from the poet. 

4 He was a lyric poet. 

6 Near Nemea, and therefore =Nemean. Or because the Cleoneans 
were for a long time the managers of the Nemean games. (So Dr. 
Donaldson.) In irefx^avru there is a reference to the crrtcpavijcpopia 
with the comus-song. 

6 From the patron-goddess Athene. 



20_37 ] NEMEAN ODE IV. 179 

Amphitryon the Cadmeans nothing loth sprinkled 
him with flowers for Aegina's sake. 1 For he had 
come thither as a friend among friends, though 
to a strange city, and lodged 2 in the wealthy hall 
of Hercules, with whom erst the stalwart Telamon 
ravaged Troy and the Meropes, and the mighty 
warrior, the terrible Alcyoneus, — not indeed before 
he had destroyed by a huge stone twelve four- 
horsed chariots and twice as many heroes, tamers of 
horses, mounted upon them. Ignorant of battles 
would he prove himself to be, who understood not 
the saying; 3 for 'tis but likely that he who does 
something should suffer too. But from telling the 
tale at length, the custom of my song and the pres- 
sure of time prevent me ; and I feel my heart drawn 
on by an ardent desire to touch on the festival of 
the new moon. 4 Though the deep ocean brine holds 
thee up to the middle, 5 yet struggle bravely against 

1 The nymphs Theba and Aegina were supposed to be related to 
each other. See Nem. viii. 13. Isthm. vii. 17 seqq. The accusative 
viv ought grammatically to refer to Timocritus ; but it seems that the 
victor Timasarchus is meant, who had gone to Thebes from Aegina as 
a stranger, and carried off a prize in the local games. 

2 Ka.TtBpaiJ.ev seems here a synonym with ko.t€\v(T€v, for KaraBpaixelv 
&(ttv means "to overrun a city." The "hall of Hercules" seems to 
have been a kind of salle or place of public entertainment. 

8 The well-known saw, bpaaavri TraQeiv. "Pindar refers to the 
trouble and loss sustained by Hercules and his followers before they 
could subdue the giant, hinting also that Timasarchus had sutfered a 
good deal before he won the wrestling match." — Dr. Dona l d so n. 

* When the imviKia were commonly celebrated. 

6 For this figure see Pyth. ii. 80. The allusion is to the poet's 
enemies who were striving to supplant him. Most commentators ex- 
plain KaTafiaiveiv of " coming to shore" or "disembarking." It is 
often used for "entering the lists," e.g., JEsch. Cho. 727. 



180 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [37-59 

plots; we shall be found assuredly to come down 
to the contest in broad day superior to our enemies ; 
while another man with jealous eye broods in dark- 
ness over a vain design which falls to the ground. 
For myself, I well know that whatever merit all- 
ruling fate hath given me. time in due course will 
bring to its destined issue. 1 Weave, my sweet lute, 
even at this present, with Lydian harmony a strain 
acceptable to Oenone and to Cyprus, where 2 Teucer 
holds distant rule, that renowned son of Telamon. 
But Ajax has the Salamis that his father had ; while 
in the Euxine sea Achileus has a bright island, 8 
and Thetis holds sway at Phthia, 4 Neoptolemus on 
the mainland across the water, where ox-pasturing 
headlands projecting into the sea trend to the Ionian 
main, beginning at Dodona. By the foot of Pelion 
Peleus made over to Haemonians Iolchus as a sub- 
ject city, 5 having turned upon it with hostile hand, 
and availing himself of the crafty designs of Acastus' 
wife Hippolyte. For by his divinely-wrought hunt- 

1 Viz., of superiority over my rivals. 

2 Viz., at the Salamis called after the island that was an appanage 
of Aegina. 

8 Called Leuce. The poet is showing in how many and how distant 
places the family of the Aeacidae had sway in the heroic ages. 

* At a place called ©erlSaou, Eur. Androm. 20. 

5 The sense is, ".Peleus also is famous at Iolchos, for having trans- 
ferred that city from a Minyan to a Thessalian dynasty." Acastus, 
the last Minyan king, had laid a plot against the life of Peleus by 
stealing the sword (fidxaipa) which Vulcan had made for him, on the 
false information of his wife Hippolyte, who had vainly tendered her 
favours to the virtuous Peleus. See Isthm. vii. 27. Nem. 25. Ar. 
Nub. 1963. Eur. Tro. 1127. 



59_82 1 NEMEAN ODE IV. 181 

ing-knife the son of Pelias (Acastus) planted for him 
death by an ambuscade ; but Chiron averted it. 
Thus he fulfilled the destiny appointed him by 
Zeus ; for after bafHing all-subduing fire, the sharpest 
claws of bold lions, and the edges of most formid- 
able fangs, 1 he wedded one of the high- enthroned 
Nereids, and saw the seats ranged in a circle, reclin- 
ing on which the kings of the heaven and the sea 2 
displayed their gifts, — the sway that his race should 
ever have. 

But westward of Gadeira 3 one may not pass. 
Turn back again to the mainland of Europe the 
tackle of your ship ; for 'tis impossible for me to go 
through the whole tale of Aeacus' sons. Besides, it 
was for the Theandridae 4 that I came by special 
agreement as a ready messenger of the limb- 
strengthening contests at Olympia and Isthmus 
and Nemea, where they have had their trial, and 
return not home without the crowns of beautiful- 
fruited (olive, — that home) where we hear that thy 
clan, Timasarchus, is conversant before all others in 
the songs of victory. Or, if you bid me further to 
set up for your maternal uncle Callicles a pillar 
whiter than Parian marble ; as gold by being 

1 Thetis, to avoid being caught by Peleus, was said to have changed 
herself into many different shapes. This is probably the origin of the 
later story in the Odyssey of the transformations of Proteus. 

2 Zeus and Poseidon. See Isth. vii. 27. 

3 Gibraltar. 

4 An Aeginetan clan to which the victor belonged. 



182 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [83-96 

refined shows all its gleams, so does a strain that 
tells of his valiant deeds render a man as fortunate 
as a king. Let him in his abode by the Acheron 
find in my tongue one to sing his praises, where at 
the contest of the deep-rumbling wielder of the 
trident his brows were green with Corinthian 
parsley. Him once Euphanes, thy aged grandsire, 
my boy, rejoiced to celebrate in song. 1 Not all 
men have the same poets living in their times ; but 
what each may himself have seen, that each one 
thinks he can best declare. How in praising 
Melesias 2 would he now struggle in the contest, twin- 
ing words, hard to drag from his vantage-ground in 
description, entertaining gentle feelings towards the 
good, but a rough combatant to the churlish. 3 

1 Callicles, himself a victor at the Isthmia, had been sung of in an 
ode by Euphanes, his father, and the grandfather of the present victor. 

2 A famous trainer, mentioned in 01. viii. 54. 

3 The phraseology here is entirely borrowed from the wrestling 
school. It cannot be closely rendered in English, because, if any 
equivalent terms exist at all, they are slang terms. Dr. Donaldson 
translates eV A<fyo>, etc., "hard to throw in the wrestling-match of 
discourse." 



183 



ODE V. 

The victory in the pancratium commemorated in 
this ode was won by Pytheas of Aegina, the son of 
Lampo, and a member of the powerful clan of the 
Psalychidae. A younger brother of the victor, 
Phylacidas, is celebrated in Isthm. iv and v, for two 
victories, also gained in the pancratium, B.C. 478 
and 480 ; that which is the subject of this ode is 
believed to have been gained several years earlier. 

From the allusion to the song being sent about 
on ship-board from Aegina, ver. 2, it has been 
argued that it was not sung in public. This seems 
however a very doubtful inference. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

As the poet cannot make a statue to stand still on its base, 
he will compose a hymn that shall be sent to all parts, 
announcing the victory of Pytheas. — The honour he has done 
to Aegina and the Aeacidae. — The prayers of the sons of 
Aeacus of old, that Zeus might prosper Aegina. — The flight 
of Peleus and Telamon from Aegina for the murder of their 
brother Phocus. — The praise of the Aeacidae demands a 
strong effort on the poet's part. — The marriage of Peleus 
with Thetis, which was honoured by the presence of the gods. 
His virtuous resistance to the intrigues of Hippolyte. — Two 
relations of the victor, Euthymenes and Themistius, with 
their trainer, Menander the Athenian, are praised in conclu- 
sion, and their victories enumerated. 



184 THE ODES OF PINDAR. ^ Ul6 

I am no sculptor, to make images for standing mo- 
tionless on the same base ; but go, sweet song, 1 on any 
merchant- ship and in any packet-boat, from Aegina, 
to spread abroad the news that Pytheas the broad- 
shouldered son of Lampo gained the crown of victory 
in the pancratium at the Nemean games, not yet 
showing on his cheeks the tender mother of vine- 
blossom, the ripeness of age. And so he hath done 
honour to the warrior-heroes begotten of Cronus and 
Zeus, and descended from the golden Nereids, the 
family of the Aeacidae, and the mother-city, a corn- 
land friendly to strangers, 2 prosperity for which in 
a manly race and in renowned ships was prayed 
for 3 by those heroes of old, as they stood by the altar 
of their sire, Zeus Hellenius, and together stretched 
out their open hands to the heaven, the distin- 
guished sons of Enda'is 4 and the mighty chieftain 
Phocus, that famed son of the goddess, whom 
Psamathea bare upon the sea-strand. I feel awe 
in speaking of a daring deed, 5 and one not ventured 
in justice, how they had to leave that famous isle, 
and what fortune it was that drave forth from 
Oenone the valiant heroes. I will stop ; not every 

1 That is, But I am a poet to compose hymns, etc. 

2 See sup. iv. 12 ; 01. viii. 21, where mention is made of the court 
at Aegina for questions of international law, arbitration, etc. 

3 Hesych. Oeacrauro' i^rjrrjcrap' iK€T€v<rav. 

4 Endais, the daughter of Chiron, was the wife of Aeacus and the 
mother of Peleus and Telamon. Phocus was also the son of Aeacus, 
hut by the sea-nymph Psamathea. 

5 The murder of Phocus. 



16 ~ 31 ] NEMEAN ODE V. 185 

exact truth is profitable in plainly showing its face ; 
even silence is oft-times the wisest thing a man can 
think of ; still, as my resolve hath been to praise 
wealth or prowess of hands or iron war, let some 
one dig me a trench 1 for a long leap from where 
I now stand. 2 I have in my knees a nimble spring ; 
and eagles can wing their way even beyond the sea. 
Right heartily also 3 for them did that most lovely 
chorus of Muses sing on Pelion, and in the midst 
of them Apollo, plying his seven-toned lute with 
golden quill, led the varied strains. And they first 
of all, beginning with Zeus, sang of Thetis the 
divine and Peleus, and how that the dainty daughter 
of Cretheus, Hippolyte, would fain have caught him 
by her wiles, having persuaded his friend the lord of 
the Magnesians, her consort, by cunningly-devised 
plots ; for she composed a lying story got up for the 
purpose, how " that man made advances to her when 
united to Acastus in the marriage bed/' But the 
contrary was the truth : for many times with all her 



1 Lines or trenches were dug in the arena, as marks for the leapers 
to attain. 

2 Viz., the disaster above hinted at. The poet says, he will go 
away from it as far as he can, and say nothing about it. So acpio-Ta/mai 
is used in 01. i. o2. — In what follows, Pindar expresses his ability as 
a poet (whom he compares to an eagle, as in Nem. iii. 80) to fly far 
away from an unpleasing theme, and to soar to more congenial 
regions. 

3 By kcu the poet appears to mean, that though the Aeacidae had 
their misfortunes, they were also honoured in an especial manner by 
the songs of the Muses at the marriage of Peleus. 



186 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [32-46 

heart she had talked him over 1 and entreated him. 
But his feelings were stung by her daring proposals, 
and at once he spurned the bride, fearing the 
wrath of the sire who is the patron of strangers. 
But he, the cloud- stirring Zeus in heaven, king of 
the immortals, took note of it, and promised him 
that with all speed he would get him a bride from 
the sea, one of the Nereids of the golden distaffs, 
by persuading Poseidon, their relation by marriage, 
who oft comes from Aegae to the renowned Dorian 
Isthmus, where festive bands with the loud notes of 
the reed receive the god, and men contend in hardy 
strength of limb. It is the destiny with which a 
man is born that decides all his actions. You, 
Euthymenes, 2 by falling into the arms of the goddess 
victory at Aegina, did win for yourself varied 
strains : not less surely now does your maternal 
uncle, my Pytheas, do honour to you, his blood- 
relation of the same stock, who have followed in his 
steps. 3 Nemea on her part is his friend, and the 
month of his country 4 that Apollo loves ; the youths 
also who came to the contest he conquered both at 
home and at the fair glades by Nisus' hill. 5 And I 

1 So irarpqas /xSyis irapcnrovcra <pp4vas, Aesch. Prom. 130. 

2 The maternal uncle of the victor, Pytheas. See Isthm. v. 58. 

3 The sense is, that the victory of the uncle is an additional orna- 
ment, as it were, to the nephew. The use of kcIuov in the sense of 
" his own " is very remarkable. Its proper use is to signify "that 
other person." 

4 The Aeginetan month called Delphinius (April or May). 

5 That is, at Megara. 



47_54 ] NEMEAN ODE V. 187 

rejoice that the whole state competes for honours. 1 
Enow that it is through Menander's good fortune 
that you have attained a recompense for your toils. 2 
And it is right that from Athens should come a 
maker of athletes. 3 And if now you have come to 
Themistius, 4 to sing of him, no longer feel chilled, 5 
but give free utterance, and hoist the sails to the 
cross-yard at the top-mast, and say how both as a 
boxer and in the pancratium at Epidaurus he won as 
victor a double prize of valour, and that to the front 
of the temple of Aeacus 6 he brought verdant chaplets 
of flowers by favour of the fair-haired Graces. 

1 Pindar always speaks of Aegina with, affection, as having a 
legendary relation to his native town Thebes. 

2 Menander was a famous trainer from Athens, to whose general 
luck with his pupils the poet refers the present victory. 

8 This seems to refer to the presiding goddess of Athens, Pallas, 
being called under one of her attributes, 'Epydt/r). 

4 Here the poet addresses himself. Themistius was some relation 
of the victor, who had also gained distinction in more than one con- 
test. The mention of this name is intended as a climax of the victor's 
honours. " When you add this name also, give your ship free course, 
and tell how many prizes he has gained," i.e., how many members of 
the same family have been distinguished. 

5 That is, Warm with your subject. 

6 Perhaps this is to be understood literally of a are(pav7)<popia } or 
bringing a chaplet to be offered in the temple of a local god or hero. 
See 01. x. ult. 



188 



ODE VI. 

This rather difficult Aeolic ode commemorates the 
victory of Alcimidas of Aegina in a wrestling-match 
with boys. From the mention of his trainer Me- 
lesias, in ver. 68, it has been inferred that the date is 
as late as 01. 80, or about B.C. 460. The clan 
of the Bassidae (ver. 32) to whom he belonged had 
been very successful, for this was the twenty-fifth 
victory they had attained (ver. 60), though they had 
experienced for some years alternations of fortune 
(ver. 9). The ode appears to have been sung at 
Aegina, probably at a grand entertainment given by 
the clan in honour of the victory. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

Men are from the same origin as the gods (viz., from Mother 
Earth), but very different in kind, albeit with some likeness 
in mind and shape. — Man's ignorance of his destiny. — The 
victor has shown that there is a law of alternate renown and 
ingloriousness in the clan of the Bassidae. — No clan in 
Hellas can show a greater number of prizes. — Enumeration 
of victories gained in different contests by relations of Alci- 
midas. — The fame of Aegina generally for its heroes. — The 
most recent success has ever the greatest interest. — Number 
of prizes won by the clan, — Praise of Melesias the trainer. 



I" 18 ] NBMBAN ODE VI. 189 

There is one race of men and one race of gods, 
and it is from one mother that we both draw the 
breath of life ; but a power wholly distinct separates 
us, for the one race is as nought, while the brazen 
vault of heaven remains for all time a secure abode. 
Yet withal we do in some degree resemble the 
immortals, either in mighty intellect or in shape, 
though we know not what goal fate has marked out 1 
for us to run to, either in the day time or by night. 
And now Alcimidas gives a visible proof that the 
innate valour of his race is like unto corn-bearing 
fields ; for they by taking turns 2 do at one time give 
to man food for the year from the plains, at another 
time by lying fallow they recover their strength. 
There hath returned from the lovely vales of Nemea 
a youth who had engaged in the contest, and who, 
following this destiny appointed by Zeus, 3 hath now 
shown himself a successful competitor in wrestling, 
directing his steps by the foot-prints of Praxidamas, 
his father's sire of the same blood. 4 For he too was 
a victor at Olympia, and first won himself the 
wreath of olive for the Aeacidae 5 from Alpheus, five 

1 ypa(p€iv o-Tad/jLT)v is a phrase borrowed from drawing a line, 
ypdfjLfjia, for racers in the arena. 

2 Virg. Georg. i. 71, * 'attends idem tonsas cessare no vales — patiere." 
The alternations of victories in the family of Alcimidas, e.g., the grand 
sire and grandson winning them, but not the father, suggest this apt 
comparison. See Xem. xi. 37-42. 

3 This law of alternation. 

4 That is of the clan or family of the Bassidae. 

5 To do honour to the people of Aegina. 



190 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [19-32 

times at the Isthmus, and thrice at Nemea, and thus 
did away with the oblivion of his father Socleides, 
who was the eldest of the sons of Agesimaehus. 1 
For these three winners of prizes attained the 
highest meed of prowess, of all those who essayed 
the games ; and by the favour of the god no family 
has been shown in the boxing-match to have had 
more crowns to dispose of 2 in this centre of all 
Hellas. 3 I trust that, in speaking great words, I 
shall hit the mark straight in front of me, as if 
shooting from a bow. Come, my Muse, direct 
towards this family a glorious gale 4 of verse ; for 
when men have gone by, minstrels and tales 5 pre- 
serve for them their honourable deeds. Which the 
Bassidae have in no scant measure ; 'tis a race 



1 Socleides, the father of Praxidamas, had failed in the contest 
" The three persons mentioned in the next line (ol rpe7s) as victors in 
the public games were Agesimaehus, Praxidamas, and Alcimidas. 
Praxidamas following the example of his grandfather Agesimaehus 
did away with the oblivion of his father Socleides, and now Alcimidas 
walking in the steps of his grandfather Praxidamas, has removed the 
ingloriousness of his father Theon". — Br. Donaldson. 

2 Victors' crowns were often dedicated as an offering to some shrine, 
statue, or temple. 

3 He refers to Nemea, which is by a rough reckoning called the 
innermost town, or retired region of Hellas, i.e., the Peloponnesus. 
Compare rov Wkv&a juvxov, for Orchomenus, in Isth. i. 56. 

4 So ebtivvsiv haifxovos ovpov in 01. xiii. 28. 

5 There is another reading, \6yioi. No written histories can be 
shown to have existed in Pindar's time, nor is it likely that they did. 
Certain authors of brief tales or anecdotes, called Aoyonoiol, there 
were, who are occasionally alluded to by Herodotus. Their stories 
were probably intended to be learnt and recited, even though they may 
in the first instance have been written down, which was possible for 
compositions of a few lines in length. 



32-53] NEMEAN ODE VI. 191 

famed of old, that trades in its own glories, well 
able to furnish those who cultivate the Muses with 
much song for the sake of their valorous achieve- 
ments. For at the divine Pytho likewise did one of 
this clan conquer when he had twined his hand with 
the boxer's thong, Callias, the favourite of the 
children of Latona of the golden distaff; and by 
Castaly's fount he was made illustrious that evening 
by the loud chant of the goddesses of song. The 
hard rocky causeway 1 too across the sea, at the 
triennial sacrifice of bulls by the neighbouring 
states, 2 gave honours to Creontidas in the grove of 
Poseidon ; and once the lion's plant 3 hung clustering 
upon him when a victor under the tree-clad cavernous 
mountains of Phlius. "Wide approaches there are from 
every side for chroniclers to adorn this glorious isle ; 
for the Aeacidae have given them a special privilege 4 
by displaying great deeds of prowess. Over land and 
across the sea from far their name has flown ; even 
to the Aethiopians it sped, to whom Memnon found 
no return ; for a grievous wound did Achilles inflict 
on him, 5 dismounting from his chariot on to the 

1 The Isthmus. 

2 This must refer to some other Isthmian festival beside that of the 
great games, which are alluded to in the sentence next following. 

8 The parsley which grew near the lair of the Xemean lion. 

4 iropziv aXaav seems here almost equivalent to our phrase " to give 
a man a chance." — a<piv refers to the Koyioi. 

6 I have here adopted Schneidewin's reading, fiapb 5e <r<pii/ €\kos 
'Axitevs e/JLTrai(T€, for the corrupt vulgate fiapv 5e acpi j/el/coy e/U7reo-\ 
Mommsen gives fiapv 5e <j<pi vukos e/j.iras Kafifias 'A^tAeus Ar&cif atf 



192 THE ODES OF PINDAH. [54-69 

ground, what time he slew the son of the bright Eos 
by the point of his furious spear. And this chariot- 
road indeed the more ancient heroes of Aegina did 
find, and I follow, having myself too a theme for 
song 1 ; and it is said that (in a storm) the wave 
which rolls nearest to the sheets 2 of the ship fills 
the mind of every one with the greatest anxiety. 
Bearing this double burden 3 with a willing back I 
have come as a messenger to declare this to be the 
twenty-fifth glory won in the games which men call 
sacred, 4 that the renowned family of Alcimidas has 
supplied. Of two chaplets indeed from the Olym- 
pian contest by the grove at the Cronium, you, my 
boy, and Polytimidas were deprived by the too hasty 
ballot. 5 If I were to describe Melesias, the director 
of your hands and your bodily strength, I should say 
he was equal to a dolphin in its speed through the 
brine. 

ap/mdrcop. Dr. Donaldson, in No. ii. p. 217 of the "Journal of Clas- 
sical and Saered Philology," proposes /3apu 5' es atf cveucev *\kos 
Xapafa /ca/3as 'AxiAevs, k.t.X. — The story here alluded to is one of the 
many " non-Homeric " scenes of the Troica referred to by Pindar. 

1 Viz., the past and the present. 

2 The lower corner of the mainsail tied to the bulwark, and there- 
fore nearest the edge of the boat. The sense is, that the glories of 
Aegina which are nearest to our own times move us most, viz., the 
victory last gained. 

8 Viz., in the present victory. 

4 Probably as opposed to local games (iyx^pioi). The family of 
the Bassidae had been so many times victorious in the four great 
games of Hellas. 

5 Which by a rapid and random decision, as it were, matched you 
with antagonists superior in strength. 



193 



ODE VII. 

This ode (which is remarkable for its great diffi- 
culty) was composed in honour of Sogenes, of Aegina, 
the son of Theario, on the event of his victory in 
the pentathlum, while yet very young, B.C. 462. 
The ode is largely taken up with certain obscure 
allusions to the fortunes of Theario, who appears 
himself to have contended at the Pythian games, 
but without success, and with the legend about the 
death of Neoptolemus at Delphi, nearly as it is 
recorded in the very fine passage in the Andromache 
of Euripides, 1085-1165. As the allusions in the 
ode have been fully discussed in Dr. Donaldson's 
" Introduction " (pp. 231-238), and more recently 
in a monograph on this ode by the Rev. Arthur 
Holmes (Cambridge, 1867), it will be unnecessary to 
re-open the discussion in this place. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

Address to the presiding goddess of childbirth, who 
brought so distinguished a victor into the world. — The dif- 
ferent tastes and destinies of men. — The need of the Muse to 
celebrate great deeds. — The fame of Ulysses is chiefly due to 
Homer. — The case of Ajax, and of Neoptolemus, who was 
slain in a quarrel at Delphi, unfairly indeed, but in fulfilment 

13 



194 THE ODES OF PINDAR. C 1 " 9 

of his destiny. — The heroes of Aegina have all been famous, 
but the poet will not pursue the theme further. — The praises 
of Theario both in youth and in mature age. — The poet 
defends himself from the charge of having spoken unfairly 
of some hero. — He will speak a word of praise to Sogenes in 
conclusion. — He commends him to the patronage of Her- 
cules, near to whose temple Theario had a house. — Good 
wishes for the fame and prosperity of him and his children. 
— Final denial that he has misrepresented the story of Neo- 
ptolemus. 

Presiding goddess of childbirth, sharer in the 
honours of the mysterious 1 Fates, cbild of Hera 
mighty in her strength, hear me, thou deliverer of 
offspring ! Without thee we see neither the light nor 
the sable darkness ; nor can we attain to that sister 
of thine, Hebe of the glancing limbs. But we do 
not all draw the breath of life for equal ends ; we 
are kept apart, each man in his own way, by the 
yoke of fate. 2 Through thy favour however it is 
that the son of Theario, Sogenes, has been distin- 
guished for valour, and is now chaunted as glorious 
among pentathletes. For 3 he dwells in a city that 

1 Compare Pvo-(r6<ppoov 'Epu/vs, in Aesch. Cho. 651. The Fates, who 
preside over birth together with Ilythia (01. vi, 42), and are therefore 
called her " assessors," hold in reserve and nnrevealed the events that 
are to attend the life of every man. 

2 Lit., " different (fortunes) separate different men, fastened to the 
yoke of fate." Compare Nem. vi. 1-2. The figure is from a pair of 
horses or oxen kept from close contact by the pole and the yoke. To 
this also e'7r} fact,, lit., " on an equality," fcrcos, par iter, refers. 

3 His success is attributed in part at least to the mere fact of his 
being an Aeginetan ; unless the yhp explains aeiSercu by Aegina being 
(pi\6fio\wos, which is less logical. The latter epithet refers to Aegina 
being the birthplace of several noted lyric poets. 



9_22 ] NEMEAN ODE VII. 195 

is devoted to song, the home of the spear-clashing 
Aeacidae ; and very desirous are they to keep up 
a spirit well versed in competing for the games. 
Now if a man succeeds in action, he throws a 
honeyed motive into the streams of the Muses ; l for 
even your great feats have much obscurity if they 
are without songs, and in one way only we know 
how to reflect noble deeds, if by the grace of 
Memory, goddess of the golden fillet, they shall have 
attained 2 a recompense for the toils by loudly-uttered 
strains of verses. Wise pilots are aware that a wind 
will come three days later, and do not suffer a loss 
from their cupidity. 3 The rich and the poor alike wend 
their way to death. For my part, I believe the fame of 
Ulysses was greater than the toils he endured, through 
the sweet strains of Homer ; 4 for on his fictions and 



1 Or, " furnishes a delightful excuse for," etc. A somewhat far- 
fetched expression, meaning, " he gives occasion to poets to sing of his 
deeds." The figure is probably borrowed from putting honey into 
water or wine, to make fieXiKprjToi/. Mr. Holmes renders it, " he pro- 
vides a honied source for the streams of the Muses." 

2 cvprirai seems to be subjunctive of the middle aorist, not the 
perfect passive. 

3 That is, they submit to a loss in throwing overboard some goods to 
lighten the ship. Compare Aesch. Ag. 1008-13. The meaning is. 
that wise men pay their poets, and do not lose future fame by a present 
love of money. The reading translated in the text is the conjecture 
of Donaldson, oi/& airb Keptiei &a\ov. Schneidewin and Mommsen 
give oi>5' virb K€p8ei PKd&ev, " nor are they prevented by love of gain.'" 

4 Very many stories about the exploits of Ulysses existed in the old 
epics, but which are omitted or quite briefly alluded to in our Odyssey. 
The reference to Ulysses is here made to show what the influence of 
poetry can do. Naturally enough, persons who have not looked 
closely into this question assume that Pindar is here referring to our 
Odyssey. 



196 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [22-32 

his skill in winged verse a kind of grandeur is im- 
pressed, and his cunning art beguiles us, misleading 
us by tales. A blind judgment has the general 
throng of men ; for had it been in their power to 
discern the truth, never would the stalwart Ajax, 
through anger at losing the arms, have stuck the 
griding sword in his own heart. 1 Yet he was the 
bravest man in battle, next after Achilles, who was 
conveyed in a swift fleet to the city of Ilus by the 
wafting of the straight-blowing westerly breeze, to 
win back his bride for fair-haired Menelaos. How- 
ever, the wave of death comes to all alike, and falls 
(on some) unexpected, as well as upon him who is 
looking for it. 2 But honour accrues to those valiant 
warriors, 3 to whose fame, though now dead, the god 



1 The inability of most men to discern the truth is shown by 
their not knowing that it was by fraud and not through real merit 
that Ulysses gained the arms of Achilles. As this tale is only once 
briefly referred to in the Odyssey (xi. 554), it is certain that Pindar is 
not alluding to that poem. See Nem. viii. 23. 

2 Mr. Holmes renders this, "and bursts alike on the obscure and 
on the glorious." I make o§6kt)tov the nominative agreeing with 
kv/jlcl, for I doubt if it can be a synonym with o86kl^ov. 

3 Hesych., fiorjOSov, Kara t)]v fxaxw raxvv. With Mommsen, I 
retain the vulg. Poa66cai/> for which others read /3oa0(W, agreeing with 
\6yov. Some definite persons must be meant ; and there can be no 
doubt that Neoptolemus is principally alluded to, though he is not 
mentioned by name till the end of the next sentence. — The fate of this 
hero is quoted as another example of fame gained through the meed of 
verse ; and the poet is thought to have introduced the story here, in 
order to answer some charge brought against him by the people of 
Aegina, of having composed a Paean in which he had given an account 
of the death of Neoptolemus more pleasing to the Delphians than to 
the Aeginetans. (Donaldson, p. 234.) I must say, I think the ex- 
planation given (after Dissen) in Donaldson's note on ver. 31-4, is 
very far-fetched and improbable. 



3250 J NEMEAN ODE VII. 197 

still gives a luxuriant growth, — men who went to 
the mighty centre of wide-bosomed earth. And now 
in the floor of the Pythian shrine Neoptolenius lies 
buried, after sacking the city of Priam, at which 
the Danai also toiled. He in sailing home missed 
Scyros ; and after long wandering they came to 
Ephyra, and there he held rule as king of Molossia for 
a short time, though his race ever after bore this 
prerogative. From hence then he went to the god 
(at Delphi), taking a wealthy offering of the choicest 
spoils from Troy ; and there engaging in a fight 
about his share in the sacrifice, a man smote him 
with a carving-knife. Whereat the Delphian lodgers 
of strangers l were grieved exceedingly ; but he 
paid the debt of fate ; for it was destined that some 
one of the Aeacid chiefs should abide henceforth 
in the bosom of that most ancient (Delphian) pre- 
cinct, hard by the well-built temple of the god, and 
that he should dwell there to see that fair justice 
should be done in the processions of many victims to 
the tombs of the heroes. 2 Three words will suffice ; 
no false witness is he as president at the exploits in 
the games. 3 Aegina, I have good confidence in 

1 Hesych., ^evayu ' Se'xeTcu ^evovs. The noun properly means one who 
conducts a stranger in sight-seeing, or in his way in an unknown city. 

2 This prerogative was given him both as an Acginctan, and there- 
fore a lover of justice (see 01. viii. 21), and by way of recompense for 
having been slain in a fight about sacrifices. 

3 Viz., those held at the heroes' tombs. This is said in praise of 
Xeoptolemus, because the poet had been accused of disparaging or 
misrepresenting him. 



198 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [50-65 

saying this of your descendants from Zeus, — that by 
their brilliant deeds of valour they have by right of 
their own family a road to fame. But I withhold, 
for rest is sweet in every work ; l one may have 
enough even of honey and the delightful flowers of 
love. Now we differ each of us in our personal 
endowments, according to the life we have obtained 
from the Fates. Some have one accomplishment, 
some another. 2 But it is impossible for any one to 
be so fortunate as to win for himself all prosperity* 
I am unable to say to whom the Fate ever gave so 
great a boon to last. Now to you, Theario, 3 she 
awards an average meed of happiness ; you had 
(in youth) the character of bravery in valiant deeds, 
and now (in age) she does not impair your shrewd- 
ness of mind. I am his friend, and by keeping 
away 4 secret slander, and bringing to a beloved hero 
the genuine tribute of glory, like streams of water 
(to quench fire), 5 I will praise him ; and such a 
meed befits the brave. If any Achaean man is by, 
from his home by the top of the Ionian sea, 6 he will 

1 He means, that he has said enough about Aegina and its heroes in 
his other odes. 

2 Mr. Holmes renders this more literally, "having received for our 
allotment of life, one man boons of one variety, others boons of 
another." 

3 The father of the victor. He seems to have met with some 
reverses in life, but more from his misfortune than his fault. 

4 Viz., from Theario. 

5 Compare Nem. i. 24. 

6 Viz., from Thesprotia in Epirus, the ancient kingdom of Neopto- 
lemus and his descendants, even to the time of Pyrrhus, King of 



65-73] NEMEAN ODE VII. 199 

not find fault with me. I rely on my public friend- 
ship with his nation. 1 Among my own townsmen 
too I look with unclouded eye, having never over- 
shot the mark of truth, 2 and having dragged from 
before my feet all violence. 3 May the rest of my 
life proceed in the same genial course. Perhaps one 
who knows will be able to say whether I go on 
repeating out of tune censorious strains. 4 Sogenes, 
of the clan of the Euxenidae, I swear that I have 
not impelled my rapid tongue like one who advances 
to the line and hurls a bronze-tipped javelin, which 
exempts from the wrestling-match the neck and the 
strength of the athlete un wetted by sweat before the 
limbs have been exposed to the scorching sun. 5 If 

Epirus, who invaded Rome. Pindar says, that as the Thesproti con- 
tinue to be friendly with him, they cannot feel aggrieved, as the Aegi- 
netans profess to do, with anything that he has said about Neoptolemus. 

1 On the fact that I am still recognised as their TrpS^uos, or consul 
at Thebes. 

2 "Having never assumed any superiority." — Dr. Donaldson. 

3 A metaphor from one who removes the large stones that impede 
his path. The poet means, that he has always taken care to avoid 
giving offence ; and he trusts that he shall ever act in the same spirit. 

4 oapos, which properly means "chit-chat," "familiar conversa- 
tion," seems in Pindar to signify "warbling strains," as in Nem. iii. 
11. He means here to deny that he has ever abused any one in his 
verses. 

6 This passage is difficult. Most commentators render Trpofias 
T€p/j.a " overstepping the mark," vireppds (Hesychius). But I think 
it must mean kt advancing the foot up, or on to it, in order to throw." 
For the accusative compare irpo&as kw\ov bc^tbu, Eur. Phoen. 1412. 
The sense appears to be, "I will not try to evade making mention of 
the victor (towards the end of the ode), on the plea that I have said 
enough already," as an athlete by winning four of the contests in the 
pentathlum was exempted from the necessity of trying the fifth. This 
is conjectural indeed, but is probable, both from the context and the 
nature of the case. Mr. Holmes thinks that only three victories out 



200 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [74-88 

toil there was, the more pleasure follows after. 
Suffer me to have my way ; to a conqueror, at all 
events, — even if with too high a flight I have uttered 
a loud note 1 — I am not too churlish to pay the 
tribute that is due. To twine crowns is an easy 
task. 2 Strike then the lyre. Know that the Muse 
is putting together gold and ivory, blended in one 
work, and the lily-flower which she has taken from 
out the ocean dew. 3 But make honourable mention 
of Zeus when on the subject of Nemea, and direct 
the many- voiced utterance of songs in the spirit of 
tranquil peace ; for the king of the gods one ought, 
on such a land as this, 4 to celebrate with gentle 
voice. 5 For they say that he begat Aeacus by 
union with a mortal mother, to become at once a 
ruler for his own illustrious land, and for thee, 
Hercules, a well-disposed friend 6 and brother. Now 
if man is benefited in aught by his fellow-man, 
we should say that a neighbour who loves with a 

of the five were required ; and he supposes the allusion to the athlete 
here to mean, that having come to the javelin-throw, he disqualifies 
himself by taking an unfair advantage. 

1 A metaphor from a bird of passage that utters a note from on 
high. See Hesiod, Opp. 448. The poet means that he will not omit 
to praise Sogenes, if he has extended his remarks about Xeoptolemus 
somewhat far. 

2 Compare Isthm. i. 45. 

3 White coral. The figure seems borrowed from the making of a 
chryselephantine statue, or royal crown. 

4 Viz., Aegina. 

6 This seems contrasted with rpaxvs in ver. 76. The character of 
Aegina for peace was due to its court of appeal. (Xem. iv. 12.) 
6 See Isthm. v. 35. 



88-100] NEMEAN ODE VII. 201 

steadfast mind was a joy worth all possessions : l and 
if the god would not object to it, 2 Sogenes would 
wish to live on in prosperity under thy protection, 
thou who didst conquer the giants, in the sacred 
street possessed by his wealthy ancestors, cherishing 
towards his father a spirit of gentle regard. For 
as when four horses are yoked together in a car, so 
he has a house in thy precinct, going to it both on 
the right and the left. 3 Blessed hero ! we look to 
thee to persuade the consort of Hera and the gleam- 
ing-eyed maid ; for thou art able to afford often to 
mortals assistance in difficulties hard to surmount. 
that thou may'st attach to them, 4 as in youth, so 
in sleek old age, a life of unfailing strength, and 
bring it to its close in prosperity ; and may their 
children's children ever keep the honour which they 



1 This was a proverb. So Hes. Opp. 346, irrj/jta /ca/cbs ydrcou 
qggov T* ayadbs ju e V oveiap. 

2 If Hercules would bear with, or eudure, the close companionship 
of Sogenes and his father Theario, who is supposed to have had a 
house situated between two temples of Hercules, in a "via sacra" 
leading thereto. — av€x €LV * s usec ^ m * n ^ s sense in Soph. Aj. 212 ; Oed. 
Col. 774. 

3 I do not think a chariot with two poles is meant, but a chariot 
with four horses abreast, the two outsiders being aeipa(p6poi, or merely 
trace horses. The pole is in the middle, i.e., between the two central 
horses, just as Theario' s house is between two temples of Hercules, one 
on the right, the other on the left. I hardly understand Mr. Holmes's 
explanation : " his house stands between the two wings of your temple 
like a chariot between its poles : the four horses of the chariot being 
harnessed abreast, two poles would of course be indispensable." (The 
four horses and the one pole I have seen plainly represented on more 
than one ancient Greek vase.) 

4 To Sogenes and his lather Theario. 



202 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [101-105 

now have, and a yet more glorious one hereafter. 1 
But my heart shall never admit that I have traduced 
Neoptolemus with words not to be retracted. How- 
ever, to go over the same ground three and four times, 
is to have nothing else to say, like the silly babbler 
to children with his Alos KopcvOos. 2 

1 This wish may refer to the present victory : but the allusion is 
quite uncertain. Some have supposed that a priesthood of Hercules 
was attached to the family of the Euxenidae ; and this seems very 
probable. 

2 A proverb signifying a vain repetition. See Arist. Ean. 439. I 
agree with Mr. Holmes, whose neat paraphrase of the last sentence I 
have adopted, that it cannot be rendered in English. 



203 



ODE VIII. 

To Deinis, the son of Megas or Meges, of Aegina, 
victor in the foot-race. The date of the ode is un- 
certain, but it is probably not one of the earlier ones 
(about B.C. 457, according to Dissen). From ver. 13 
it seems that it was sung before the temple of 
Aeacus, to whom, as was a not uncommon custom, the 
victor dedicated his crown in a are^avrj^opia. 
Meges, the father, now dead (ver. 44), had himself 
been a victor in the stadium or foot-race. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

The different ways in which love affects different characters. 
— The loves of Zeus and the nymph Aegina, from whom 
Aeacus was sprung. — His early reputation for justice and valour. 
— Prayer to him, as to a hero, for the prosperity of the people. 
— The poet will not dwell on an allusion to the wealth and 
prosperity of Cinyras, fearing the envy that might arise. — 
Evils of envy, as illustrated by the failure of Ajax to obtain 
the arms of Achilles. — The poet deprecates the envious cha- 
racter, and prefers a good name to wealth. — The service of 
friends in assisting and recording exploits. — Pindar rejoices in 
paying that tribute to Meges and Deinis. 

Goddess of youthful bloom ! that dost herald 
Aphrodite's ambrosial loves, that lightest on the eye- 
lids of maidens and of boys, and that takest up this 



204 THE ODES OF PINDAR. E 3 " 15 

one with hands of gentle constraint, 1 but that one far 
otherwise. Well ! one must be content if, without 
going wide of the right mark 2 in each enterprise, one 
can keep a strong control over the more impetuous 
desires. Such were the dispensers of Cypria's gifts 
who attended at the marriage of Zeus and Aegina ; 
and to them a son was born to be king of Oenone, 3 
in prowess and in wisdom unsurpassed. Him many 
a time did many men pray to behold ; for without 
being summoned to his court, even the best of the 
heroes that dwelt around, of their own free will con- 
sented to obey the behests 4 of such a chief as that, — 
both those who in rock- crowned Athens directed the 
host, and the descendants of Pelops at Sparta. A 
suppliant I clasp the holy knees of Aeacus in behalf 
both of a state dear to me 5 and of these citizens, 



1 Lit., "gentle hands of constraint." By avayicr} the first feelings 
of love are meant, which affect some slightly, others strongly. It is 
quite needless to interpret erepais by /caucus, with Dr. Donaldson. 

2 The words iiriKparelv apeiSvvv ipdoTcw, usually rendered "to 
obtain better desires," are difficult. The present tense could not mean 
"to obtain;" and KpareTu ipdbrouv usually bears the very different 
sense, "to have mastery over, or control, passions." By apei6va>v the 
poet may mean " great loves," i.e., desires conceived for persons above 
one's station (Pyth. ii. 34.) But as Love is often represented as an 
irresistible combatant {e.g. Soph. Trach. 441), it may also bear the 
sense I have given it above. — It is clear that the oToi following must 
take its sense from the meaning of hpeiovwv. Probably the poet means 
the fierptoi spares, or " reasonable loves." 

3 The old name of the island Aegina, of which Aeacus was the first 
legendary king. 

4 Or, "the rulings," i.e., the authoritative decisions. 
6 Aegina. See Nem. iv. 22. % 



16-27] NEMEAN ODE VIII. 205 

bringing a Lydian wreath, 1 varied by the ringing 
notes of the lute, an offering from Nemea for the two 
foot-races of Deinis and his father Meges. For 2 of 
a truth the prosperity that is planted by the hand of 
a god is more abiding with men. It was such pro- 
sperity that in time of old loaded Cinyras with riches 
in his island home at Cyprus. I stay awhile 3 with feet 
ready for the start, taking breath before I utter a 
word. For much has already been said (by others) 4 
in many ways ; and to invent something new, and 
submit it to the touch-stone to be tested, is alto- 
gether a risk. Words of praise are a treat to the 
jealous ; and (jealousy) ever lays hold of the good, 
but does not trouble itself with inferiors. 'Twas that 
which caused the stabbing of Telamon's son, and made 
him to writhe on his own sword. Too true it is that 
one wanting in eloquence, though brave at heart, is 
forgotten in a grievous dispute, while the greatest 
prize is held up for versatile falsehood. 5 For by 

1 An ode in the Lydian measure, with variations in the lute-music. 
Compare Xem. xi. 18 ; 01. i. 14. The metaphor is from one who 
places the offering of a chaplet on the knees of a statue. 

2 Some ellipse must be supplied : (" And they have gained this prize 
by a virtuous use of wealth;") or, ("and they have thus added one 
more to a long course of success.") 

z The poet hesitates, through fear of divine <p9ovos, to attribute to 
his Aeginetan friend too great prosperity or good fortune ; and he also 
avoids a theme which has become almost hackneyed by poets. 

4 Viz., about the great wealth of Cinyras. See Pyth. ii. 16. 

6 The characters of Ulysses and Ajax are, of course, under general 
terms, pointedly alluded to. The Homeric epics that Pindar followed 
probably made the original arms given to Peleus the subject of con- 
test. In our Homer they were lost by Patroclus, and a new suit was 
supplied by Thetis. 



206 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [28-43 

secret ballots the Danai paid court to Odysseus ; and 
so Ajax was deprived of the golden armour, and had 
to grapple with slaughter. Yet very different were 
the wounds they clave the enemy on his warm flesh, 
when rebuffed by the man-repelling lance, partly 
in fighting over Achilles when newly slain, and in 
other hard struggles on death-dealing days. 1 Thus, 
it seems, even of old there was the hateful art of de- 
ceiving by words, 2 — an art that goes hand-in-hand 
with cunning stories, thinking guile, a mischief- 
making scandal ; an art that does despite unto that 
which is illustrious, but holds up to view the spurious 
glory of the obscure. Never, Zeus, be such a dis- 
position mine ! but may I adhere to guileless ways 
of life, that when I am dead I may attach to my 
children a name that is not of evil report. Some 
pray for gold, others for land without limit ; 3 I wish 
but to please my citizens, to praise what is praise- 
worthy, to scatter blame on the guilty; so may I 
e'en cover my limbs with a cloak of earth. Virtue 
grows, as when a tree runs up by refreshing dews 
towards the moist air, reared by the wise and the 
honest among men. 4 The uses of friends are of many 

1 Lit., " in the slaughterous days of other toils." It will be noticed 
that Pindar is again following stories not recorded in our Iliad. 

2 This is generally rendered, " thus deceitful speaking was a hateful 
thing even of old;" but surely it is the existence of the vice that the 
poet proves by the case of Ulysses. 

3 A familiar or proverbial wish : so Theocr. viii. 53, fir) /ioi yav 
EleA o7ros, fir) fioi xpudeia raKavra efy e%€iv. 

4 He means, by the just praise of poets, who are often called aotpoi. 



43_51 ] NEMEAN ODE VIII. 207 

kinds, but their service in toils is the highest. Even 
the pleasure (which poets give) seeks to put before 
our eyes the credibility of things. 1 My Meges, to 
bring back thy life is not in my power ; and empty 
hopes end but in disappointment. Yet for thy clan 
and the Chariadae 2 1 can set a mighty stone of poetry 
as a prop, in honour of the two pairs of glorious feet. 3 
I rejoice too in uttering words of praise suitable to the 
occasion on the exploit itself ; for by singing about 
it 4 a man makes even a toil to be free from pain. 
However, there was a comus-song long ago, even 
before the quarrel between Adrastus and the The- 
bans arose. 5 

1 That is, poetry would fain describe matters so as not to exceed 
reasonable belief. 

2 The particle re may be exegetical, "namely, for the Chariadae ;" 
though Dissen thinks a distinct clan and sub-clan are meant. 

8 Viz., of Meges and Deinis. Lit., " for the sake of well-named 
feet " (i.e., of a clan of note) " which we see are now twice two." 

4 There is a kind of play on the medical sense of iiraoid^ "incanta- 
tion." (Pyth. iii. 51.) 

5 The poet intimates that the praise he will give, viz., in verse, is 
nothing new. In saying this he appears to refer to ver. 20 sup. — 
Adrastus, who was called fxeXiyripvs, was a kind of typical eulogist of 
heroic ages, and the originator of the art of eloquence. 



208 



ODE IX. 

This and the two following odes, though classed 
among the Nemea, are wholly independent, and com- 
memorate local victories only. This was won in the 
chariot-race at the Pythia at Sicyon, by Chromius 
of Aetna, the same for whom the first JNemean ode 
was composed. From the expression in verse 52, 
that the prize (two silver bowls) was once earned by 
the horses, it is inferred that the ode was sent some 
time after the victory. On the whole, this is one of 
the more difficult of Pindar's compositions. 

" The ode was sung in a procession at Aetna, of 
which Chromius had been made governor by his 
brother-in-law, Hiero. Pindar seems to have been 
present at this renewal of the Epinicia. The chrono- 
logy is uncertain, but the ode is probably to be re- 
ferred to 01. 77, 1, B.C. 472, for Aetna, which was 
founded in B.C. 476, is called veoKTiara, verse 2." 
— Dr. Donaldson. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

The poet calls on the Muses to join him in conducting the 
comus to the house of Chromius. — A song is the just meed of 
success. — The feast founded by Adrastus at Sicyon in honour 
of Apollo. — The occasion of the institution was the defeat of 



1_10 ] KEMBAM ODE IX. 209 

that hero at Thebes. — The burning of the bodies of the seven 
chiefs, and the swallowing up of Amphiaraus and his horses 
by the earth. — The poet prays that a threatened invasion of 
Aetna by the Carthaginians may come to naught. — The 
bravery of Chromius is compared to that of Hector. — Kepose 
is more suited to his old age. — His wealth and glory. — Fes- 
tivities held in honour of the event. 

From Apollo at Sicyon our comus we will lead, ye 
muses, to the new colony of Aetna, where the doors 
are thrown wide open at the bidding of strangers, 1 
even to the prosperous home of Chromius. Where- 
fore exact 2 for him a sweet strain of verses, for he 
mounts the car 3 drawn by his conquering steeds, and 
gives notice of a song to be sung to the mother 4 and 
her twin children, the joint guardians of Pytho-on- 
the-hill. Now there is a saying of men, not to cover 
over in the earth by the veil of silence a good deed 
that has once been done ; and surely a divine strain 
of verses is suited to deeds of high emprise. 5 So 
rouse we the ringing lute, and rouse we the pipe for 
that which is the very chief of equestrian con- 
tests, 6 which Adrastus instituted for Phoebus by the 
stream of Asopus. In recording these I will adorn 

1 Lit., " are conquered by guests." 

2 The poet elsewhere regards songs as a debt due, e.g., 01. xi. 8. 
Others render it " compose." But irpdcro-eiu is never a synonym with 

7TOl€?J/. 

3 That is, the car of song, as in 01. vi. 22, though some understand 
the expression literally. 

4 Latona. 

6 kccOxcu is probably a digammated form of aZx*h Nem. ix. 29. 
6 Lit., " prizes of contests." The poet here, for the sake of compli- 
ment, uses a term (Kopvcpa) generally applied to the Olympia. 

14 



210 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [10-24 

with loud-voiced praises a hero, who erst when he 
was king there, held up to fame and did honour to 
his city by a new festival, with feats of strength be- 
tween men and contests of hollow chariots. For he 
was fleeing from Amphiaraus, the bold counsellor, 
and a formidable faction, from his father's home and 
from Argos ; for the sons of Talaus were no longer lords 
of Sicyon, having been forced to give way in a sedi- 
tion ; and a better man can put down a dispute that 
has hitherto prevailed. So they gave unto the son of 
Oecleus to wife the slayer of her own husband Eri- 
phyle, 1 as one gives a solemn pledge, and so became 
the greatest of the fair-haired Danai. So thence at one 
time they even led against seven-gated Thebes a host 
of men, but not according to the course of lucky omens ; 
for the son of Cronus, by sending his zig-zag light- 
ning, urged them not to set out in fatal folly from 
their homes, but to be chary of that expedition. 
Yet did the host hasten to plunge into foreseen 
disaster with their brazen shields and their horse- 
trappings. And so on the banks of Ismenus, stopped 
from their desired return, they fattened with their 
bodies 2 the white smoke. For seven pyres fed upon 
heroes of youthful limb, but for Amphiaraus Zeus 

1 Adrastus and his brothers, the sons of Talaus, had been expelled 
from Sicyon by Amphiaraus and his faction ; but they made peace by 
giving to him in marriage their sister Eriphyle, who caused her hus- 
band's death by inducing him against his will to join the expedition 
against Thebes. See Horn. Od, xi. 326 ; Soph. Electr. 838. 

2 Mommsen reads acofxaai irlavav, others o-a^ar' iirlauav. 



24 " 39 1 NEMEAN ODE IX. 211 

clave with his almighty thunderbolt the deep bosom 
of the earth, and buried him alive with his steeds, 
ere he was put to shame in his warlike soul by being 
stabbed in the back by the lance of Periclymenus. 
For in preternatural panics even the sons of the 
gods do fly. If it may be, son of Cronus, this 
daring attempt 1 of the Phoenician army of spear- 
men, in a contest for life or death, I put off to a far 
distant time ; and I beg of thee to give to the de- 
scendants of the colonists of Aetna for a long time to 
come the good fortune to be governed by wise laws, 
and to make the people familiar with honours won in 
the games by its own citizens. Men there are in it 
both fond of horses and with souls superior to wealth. 
I have said what few believe; for the chivalrous 
spirit that brings one honour is secretly stolen away 
by love of gain. Had you been esquire to Chromius 
with the troops that came up to the war-cry on foot, or 
with horses, or in fights between ships, you would have 
judged of the risks he ran 2 in the sharp fight, because 
in Avar that goddess prompted his warrior- soul to 
ward off the havoc of Enyalius ; and few there are who 
are able either by force of hand or by bravery to con- 
trive to turn the cloud of imminent slaughter upon 
the ranks of the enemy. We are told, however, that 

1 The threatened invasion of the city of Aetna. See Pyth. i. 72. 

2 Or, u distinguished his daring." This refers to the good service 
in the war against the Tyrant of Gela which had been rendered by 
Chromius in his youth. 



212 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [39-52 

Hector's fame (for doing this) flourished high 
near the streams of the Scamander ; and so likewise 
by the steep-cliffed banks of the Helorus, 1 where 
men give the ford the name of Ares' Spring, this 
brilliant achievement has seen the light in the son of 
Agesidamus in his early prime. Other deeds also of 
his I will assert were done on other days, many of 
them on the dusty 2 mainland, and others on the neigh- 
bouring sea. Toils which have been undergone in 
youth and in a just cause are succeeded towards the 
close of life by a tranquil time. Let the victor be 
assured that he has obtained from the gods a mar- 
vellous bliss. For if with many possessions a man 
shall have won for himself glorious renown, it is not 
possible for him, as a mortal, to go further, or to 
reach with his feet any other eminence. As the 
banquet loves peace, so is a victory made to grow 
and bloom afresh when attended with gentle song ; 3 
and the voice becomes bold by the side of the wine- 
bowl. So let some one mix it e'en now, the sweet 
herald of the comus-song, and let him hand round 
the potent child of the grape in the silver beakers 
which were won for Chromius by his horses, 4 and 



1 See Herod, vii. 154. 

2 That is, battle-field. Mommsen reads iyitovlq for 4u tcovia. 

3 Both the banquet and the victory love-song, and peace, which is 
the condition of enjoying music of this kind. 

4 aybv aficp* apyvplBe(T<m>y 01. ix. 90. 



5 2-55] NEMEAN ODE IX. 213 

sent to him with the well-deserved 1 crowns of Apollo 
from the sacred Sicyon. Father Zeus ! I flatter 
myself that I have well celebrated 2 this exploit by the 
aid of the goddesses of song, and that I am doing 
honour to this victory by my praises beyond many 
others, 3 throwing my dart nearest to the mark of the 
Muses. 

1 Lit., "twined with (or by) justice." The " crowns of Apollo" 
are those from the Pythia held at Sicyon. 

2 See 01. ill. 2. 

3 More than other, perhaps rival poets. Some think there is an 
allusion to another ode yet to be composed. These render evxopou 
" I pray that I may celebrate," etc. 



214 



ODE X. 

This, like the last, is not properly a Nemean ode, 
but commemorates a double victory gained at Argos 
at the feast of the Hecatombaea (ver. 23) by Theaeus, 
the son of Ulias, in the wrestling-match. He had 
been successful also at the great games, (ver. 25, 6,) 
and his ancestors had won many victories in other 
parts of Greece, (ver. 37-48). The date is unknown. 
Dissen, from internal evidence of no great weight, 
supposes that it falls between B.C. 468 and 458. 
From verse 23, it may be inferred that this ode 
was sung at the temple of Hera on the anniversary 
of the victory. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

The ancient renown of Argos for heroes and heroines famed 
in ancient story. — The occasion of the festival calls for a 
song in praise of the many victories of Theaeus. — His prospects 
of yet further success at Olympia. — The prizes won at various 
contests by his maternal ancestors. — The patronage of Castor 
and Poly deuces, gods of the games, is due to their having been 
entertained by Pamphaes, an ancestor of the victors. — The 
story of the death of Castor, and his restoration to life to share 
alternately immortality with his brother. 

The city of Danaus and of his fifty deified 
daughters, Argos the abode of Hera, meet city for a 



2 " 15 ] NEMEAN ODE X. 215 

god, sing, ye Graces ! l For 'tis rendered illustrious 
by countless deeds of prowess through the bold ad- 
ventures of its heroes. Long is the story of Perseus 
about the Gorgon Medusa : many are the cities in 
Aegypt founded (from Argos) by the hands of 
Epaphus : 2 nor does Hypermnestra go far from the 
mark, who by her single resolve kept the sword in 
the scabbard. 3 Diomede also the fair-haired god- 
dess of the glancing eyes erst did make an im- 
mortal god. 4 The earth in Thebes, blasted by the 
bolts of Zeus, received in its womb the prophet, the 
son of Oecleus, the cloud of war. In fair-tressed 
women too Argos excels. In times of old Zeus, by 
going after Alcmena and Danae, made plain this 
claim. For the father of Adrastus and for Lynceus she 
(Argos) wedded prudence of mind with upright justice. 
It was Argos too that reared the spearman Amphitryo; 
and to visit his wife 5 came the god who is supreme 
in bliss; for the king of the immortals, likening 

1 Goddesses of poetry. 

2 Son of the Argive goddess Io, the daughter of Inachus. He was 
the legendary founder of Memphis, Aesch. Prom. 814, 851. Mommsen 
reads KareKTidei/ for KarcpKiadev, others KaTcpKicrev. 

3 The tale of Hypermnestra is not alien to the subject, viz., of the 
virtuous, deeds at Argos, in that she alone of the sisters determined to 
spare the life of her husband (Aesch. Prom. 865). The verb is usually 
translated " she did not do wrongly;" but this does not suit the 
context. 

4 This is not stated in our Homeric text. 

5 The phrase nelvou ykv^av is difficult, but the context leaves no 
doubt as to the sense. It is a not uncommon Greek idiom to use the 
thing itself for the place where it is kept (e.g., rvp6s for a " cheese- 
market.") On this principle, "birth" may stand for "birthplace," 
i.e., a woman's lap. 



216 THE ODES OF FINDAR. [15-29 

himself in appearance to the hero in his brazen 
armour after he had slain the Teleboae, entered his 
hall, bringing the seed that was to beget the un- 
daunted Hercules, whose spouse in Olympus is Hebe, 
and she walks by the side of her mother, the goddess 
of marriage, fairest of the celestials. My powers of 
speech are too limited to relate in full all the honours 
in which the sacred Argive land has had a share : be- 
sides, the dislike that men feel (to overpraise) is 
grievous to incur. Nevertheless (my Muse) awake the 
well- strung lute, and take thought of trials of skill in 
wrestling ; a contest for the bronze shield l arouses 
the people to take part in the sacrifice of oxen to 
Hera, 2 and the decision of the games, wherein the son 
of Ulias, Theaeus, by two victories had forgetfulness 
of the toils he so lightly bore. He conquered also 
on one occasion the Hellenic host at Pytho, and 
(gained) the crown at Isthmus and Nemea, whither 
his good fortune had brought him ; and he gave to 
the Muses work for the plough 3 by thrice winning 
the prize at the entrance to the (double) sea, 4 and 
thrice on the time-honoured plains in the realm of 
Adrastus. 5 But of that which he longs in his heart 

1 The anniversary of the present victory won in a contest at Argos, 
of which the prize was a bronze or brazen shield. 

2 The feast of the Hecatombaea. 

3 That is, a subject of verse, in the field of poetry. Compare Pyth. 
vi. 2. 

4 At Corinth, probably. 

5 Sicyon, or as some think, Nemea. 



29-39] NEMEAN ODE X. 217 

to attain, his mouth, saith not a word. In thy hand, 
Father Zeus, is the whole issue of actions ; yet he 
asks of thee 1 a victory because he brings a good 
courage to the work, with a heart not averse from 
toil. Well does Theaeus know this, 2 and all who 
contend for the chief prizes in the greatest 3 games. 
Now Pisa has that institution of Hercules which is 
the highest of all ; yet by way of prelude 4 the sweet 
voices of the Athenians twice chaunted him in the 
comus-song at their festivals; and in earthenware 
baked in the fire the fruit of the olive came to the 
manly people of Hera 5 in the enclosure of urns de- 
corated all over with figures. 6 The well-known 
race of your maternal uncles, my Theaeus, is at- 
tended by honour in successful contests, by favour of 
the goddesses of victory and the Tyndaridae to- 



1 alreiTai irapa <rov. Some give the rendering "he deprecates," 
but this seems against the general sense of the passage, which has 
reference to a coming trial at Olympia. For the construction of the 
negative here compare Nem. ix. 19. 

1 Viz., that success depends on Zeus. The old reading, yvwT* 
aetSo? 0e£ Te, etc., is retained by Mommsen. 

3 Lit., "furthest," viz., beyond which a man cannot go; as in the 
Olympian games. (01. i. 7.) 

* Though he cannot make sure of winning so exalted an honour as 
an Olympian prize, and as yet has not ventured to compete for it, yet 
he has made a good beginning by a double victory at Athens. 

5 The Argives. 

6 This is an interesting account of those fine and precious works of 
Greek art, of which so many have in recent times been recovered, the 
painted and figured vases. Xot a few of those made at Athens are 
preserved in museums ; they generally bear the Archaic inscription 
TON A0ENE0EN A0AON "EMI. [rw* 'Ad-nvrjdev &6Acou tifd.) Here 
a \-f)Kv6os, or flask of oil, seems to be meant. 



218 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [39-55 

gether. 1 I should claim, if I were a relative of 
Thrasyclus and Antias, not to hide at Argos the light 
of my eyes. 2 For with how many victories hath this 
horse-breeding city of Proetus flourished ! In the 
nooks of Corinth 3 and from the men of Cleonae 4 four 
times ; from Sicyon they went off rich in silver 
with their goblets 5 for pouring out wine ; and from 
Pellene, clad on their backs with soft woollen woof. 
But the countless quantity of brass it is not possible 
to bring to the test — for to count it were a work of 
longer leisure — which Cleitor, and Tegea, and the 
high-perched citadels of the Achaeans, and the 
Lycaeum set as a prize by the race-course of Zeus, 
to be carried off by the conquerors with might of 
hands and feet. And indeed, as Castor and his 
brother Polydeuces once went to receive hospitality at 
the house of Pamphaes, 6 'tis no wonder if it is inborn 
in them, 7 to be good athletes. For as lords of Sparta's 
wide plains they, with Hermes and with Hercules, 8 
assign success in contests and festivals, showing a 



1 OafiaKis may mean " often," like iroWdias, as inlsthm. i. 28. But 
in Pindar Odfia generally means &fia. 

2 Not to veil myself for shame. 

8 " Corinth, which lies in the recesses of the Isthmus." — Dr. 
Donaldson. 

4 Nemea. 

5 Faterae, flat vessels for pouring libations. 

6 An ancestor of the victor's. It is probable that he had given 
0eo£eW (01. iii.), at which he had entertained the two gods who pre- 
sided over the contests. 

7 That is, in the family of the present victor. 
» See 01. iii. 35. 



55-72] NEMEAN ODE X. 219 

great concern for honest men ; and trusty indeed is 
the race of the gods. And now, by changing places 
in turn, they enjoy one day with their loved sire 
Zeus, and the next they pass under the dark recesses 
of earth in the vales of Therapnae, and so fulfil one 
and the same destiny. For after the death of Castor 
in war, Polydeuces chose this existence rather than 
the being altogether a god, 1 and living always in 
heaven. It had chanced that Idas, in a passion about 
some oxen, had wounded Castor with the point of a 
bronze spear ; for Lynceus, on the look out (for the 
robbers) from Mount Taygetus, had seen them 
crouching under the stump of an oak ; for he of all 
mortal men had the sharpest eye-sight. So with 
nimble feet they came 2 at once to the spot, and a bold 
attack they made forthwith. But terrible too was the 
vengeance the sons of Aphareus suffered by the de- 
signs of Zeus ; for at once the son of Leda arrived in 
pursuit ; and they stood to face him hard by the 
tomb of their father (Aphareus). From it they 
caught up a carved stone that adorned the grave, and 
threw it at the breast of Polydeuces. Yet they 
crushed him not, nor even made him step back ; but 
he rushed at Lynceus with his ready dart and drove 
the brass into his side. Then Zeus hurled at Idas 

1 As elemental gods, they typified the alternate appearance and ob- 
scuration of the heavenly bodies. 

2 That is, the brothers Lynceus and Idas, the sons of Aphareus, a 
Messenian chief. 



220 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [72-89 

his scorching bolt ; and far away from their friends 
the two brothers were burned on one pyre ; for a 
quarrel with mightier beings is hard for mortal men 
to engage in. And now quickly to his (wounded) 
brother returned the son of Tyndarus, and found him 
not yet dead, but gasping hard for breath. 1 Where- 
upon, shedding hot tears/ he cried aloud, " Father, 
son of Cronus, what then is to be the end of our 
griefs ? Bid me too to die with him, king ; for 
his honour hath departed from a man when he is be- 
reft of his friends. Few mortals in a time of trouble 
can be trusted to take part in one's toil." So he 
spoke ; and Zeus came at once before him and uttered 
these words : " You are my son ; 2 but your brother 
here was begotten afterwards by mortal seed in the 
union of the hero her husband with your mother. 
But come, I nevertheless offer you a choice of this or 
that ; if you wish to escape death and hateful old 
age, and to dwell in Olympus with me 3 and Athena 
and Ares with the sable spear, you have the chance 
even of this : but if you make a stand for your 
brother, and have a mind to take an equal share 
with him in everything, why, then you may live half 
your time remaining beneath the earth, and half in 



1 Lit., " with hard gasping roughly-sounding in his breathings.'' 

2 That is, as an immortal, you cannot have your request granted, to 
die with your brother. 

1 The text is here corrupt. The rendering above is from Boeckh's 
conjecture, Otf\vfjLirov OtKeis vaUiv i/xol vvv r\ etc. 



89-90] NEMEAN ODE X. 221 

the golden abodes of heaven." When he had said 
thus, Polydeuces doubted not in his mind which 
counsel he should follow. 1 So Zeus unclosed the 
sealed eye, and next loosed the tongue, of the brazen- 
mailed Castor. 

4 Lit., " did not set in his mind a double resolve," or " propose to 
himself in his mind a two-fold plan," 



222 



ODE XI. 

This ode does not commemorate a victory, but 
was composed for Aristagoras of Tenedos on the 
occasion of his entering on the office of Prytanis 
(senator), and being installed in the town-hall of 
that island. The ceremony was a religious one, and 
involved a solemn sacrifice, like the rites called 
elairripia at Athens. It was performed at the town- 
hall, in honour of the presiding deity Vesta (Hestia). 
The date is unknown. 

The preservation of this ode, which is unique in 
its kind, and its place among the Epinicia, is pro- 
bably due to the enumeration of honours gained by 
Aristagoras at various games (ver. 19). 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

Prayer to Vesta for the weal and credit of the new Pry- 
tanis during his year of office. — The father Arcesilas is happy 
in having so handsome and so distinguished a son. — The 
victories of Aristagoras, and the probabilities that he would 
have gained more, but for the timidity of his parents. — If the 
proud lose by boasting, the timid fail through distrust of 
themselves. — The ancestors of Aristagoras accompanied the 
first colony of Dorians and Aeolians to Tenedos. — Intervals of 
rest occur both in corn-lands and in families, and continuous 
glories are not to be expected. — Men are apt to be too san- 
guine, unmindful of the uncertainty of all human efforts. 



1_19 ] DEMEAN ODE XI. 223 

Daughter of Rhea, who hast in thy keeping the 
town-halls, Vesta, sister of supreme Zeus and Hera 
the sharer of his throne ; grant to Aristagoras a 
hearty welcome to thy retreat, — a welcome also to 
his companions 1 near to thy gleaming sceptre, for 
they in honouring thee keep Tenedos from falling, 
ofttimes paying court to thee as the first of gods by 
the pouring of libations, and ofttimes by savoury 
offerings ; the lute too is made to resound by 
them and the song. There too the rites of Zeus the 
god of hospitality are exercised at tables ever teeming 
with good cheer. So may he with good repute and 
unwounded feelings go through the full term of 
his twelve-months' office. If there is a man whom I 
admire, it is his father Arcesilas ; that magnificent 
stature too, 2 and the intrepid mien his son has in- 
herited from his birth. But if any man who possesses 
wealth shall surpass others in comeliness, and by be- 
ing first in contests has proved his strength, let him 
remember that he wears clothing on mortal limbs, and 
that at the end of all he will be clad in earth. Yet 
in the good words of the citizens it is meet that he 
should, find praise, and that we should take him for 
our theme, bedizened with the honied notes of song. 
For sixteen glorious victories in the contests of the 

1 The other Prytancs composing the deliberative assembly {{$ov\{}). 
The installation took place close to the statue of the presiding 
goddess. 

2 Viz., that of the son. 



224 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [20-38 

neighbouring peoples have crowned Aristagoras and 
his famed clan 1 in the wrestling match and the 
much vaunted pancratium. The too timid hopes of 
his parents restrained the might of their son from 
essaying the contests at Pytho and Olympia. For 
by my troth ! to my mind, both at Castaly and at the 
tree-clad hill of Cronus he would have contended, if 
he had gone, better than his rivals, 2 and would have 
had a more glorious return, after celebrating in the 
comus-song the quinquennial feast, the institution of 
Hercules, 3 and having wreathed his hair with glisten- 
ing leaf-shoots. But among mortals, as one is thrown 
out of success by empty-minded conceits, so another 
too much distrusts his strength, and is cheated of 
honours that were rightfully his own, by a spirit de- 
ficient in daring that drags him backwards by the 
hand. 'Twas easy to guess that Pisander's stock was 
of old from Sparta ; for from Amyclae he came 4 with 
Orestes, bringing hither a bronze-mailed host of 
Aeolians ; and that the blood of his maternal uncle 
Melanippus was blended in his veins by the stream 
of Ismenus. 5 The valorous deeds of their forefathers 
reproduce their vigour in men, alternating in gene- 

1 The Pisandridae. 

2 Lit., " lie would have returned better than his competing antago- 
nists. " Compare 01. viii. 69. 

3 See 01. in. 21. 

* That is, his ancestors. There is a similar expression in 01. vi. 6. 
6 That is, by a Theban alliance. Lit., " that he was mixed up with 
(from) his maternal uncle," etc. See Aesch. Theb. 414. 



39 " 46 1 NEMEAN ODE XI. 225 

rations. In continuous course neither the black 
cornlands give their produce, nor will trees bear a fra- 
grant flower producing equal wealth on the return of 
every season, but by taking it in turn. And thus like- 
wise is the human race led on by fate; and the tokens 
that men get from Zeus are not clear. 1 Yet withal 
we enter upon proud schemes, and eagerly essay 
many enterprises : for our mortal bodies are en- 
thralled by insatiate hope, while the currents of 
events lie far beyond our ken. No ! we ought to 
aim at moderation in our gains ; when desires are 
unattainable, the madness that pursues them is the 
more violent. 

1 That is, the knowledge of futurity derived from omens and 
auguries cannot be trusted. Lit., " the proof that men have from 
Zeus attends them in no clear way." This is one of many passages 
that throws a doubt on the augur's art. 



15 



226 



ISTHMIAN ODES. 

I. 

This ode celebrates the victory of Herodotus, the 
son of Asopodorus, a Theban, in the horse-chariot. 
The date is unknown, but Dissen, who thinks there 
are allusions to the coming contest between the 
Athenians and the Thebans and the Spartans at 
Oenophyta, would refer it to the year 458 B.C. He 
supposes that ver. 17 points to the alliance of Thebes 
with Sparta, and that irokefjbl^cov in yer. 50 has 
reference to the impending struggle. 

SUMMAEY OF THE AEGUMENT. 

The poet shows his patriotism by putting off the composi- 
tion of an ode or paean to Delos, in order to celebrate the 
victory of his countryman. — The number of victories gained 
by Thebans at the Isthmus, and the fame of Thebes as the 
birthplace of Hercules. — The tribute of a Castoreum (Pyth. 
ii. 69) to Herodotus as the driver of his own car. — The num- 
ber of victories won of old by Castor and Iolaus. — The good 
fortune of the victor's father Asopodorus, who had been 
banished from Thebes and had found a refuge at Orcho- 
menus. — The tribute of song is a fitting meed for valour. — 
The superiority of chivalrous honours to all other successes. 
— The local victories of Herodotus at various towns in 
Hellas. — Good wishes for his success in coming contests at 
Pytho and Olympia. 



1 " 16 ] ISTHMIAN ODE I. 227 

Mother mine, Theba of the golden shield ! l thy 
claims upon me I will consider as more pressing than 
even my present engagement. May rocky Delos, on 
which I am employed, not be offended ! What is 
dearer to the good than worthy parents? Give 
place, thou isle of Apollo ; both hymns of praise, by 
the favour of heaven, I will bring to an end to- 
gether, — a choral song to Phoebus with the unshorn 
locks, whom I am about to celebrate in sea-girt Ceos 
with the men of the island, and another in praise of 
the sea-inclosing cliffs of the Isthmus. 2 For it has 
given six crowns to the people of Cadmus from the 
contests, a glorious boast for the land of their sires ; — 
that land in which moreover Alcmena brought forth 
her intrepid son, whom erst the pert dogs of Greryon 
trembled at. But my present care is, in composing 
this hymn for Herodotus, first to pay him the meed 
of praise for his four-horse car ; and then, as he man- 
aged the reins without help from another's hand, to 
adapt his exploit either to the lay of Castor or to the 
tune of a song to Iolaus. 3 For they were of all heroes 



1 The place appears to be represented by a statue of the war-goddess, 
which was like that of UaWas Up6/j.axos at Athens. 

2 Pindar had been engaged to write a Paean in honour of the 
Delian Apollo at Ceos. lie promises to perform this as well as an 
ode in honour of his native town, by celebrating the present victory 
gained at the Isthmus. 

3 The praise due to the victor i< twofold, and may be paid in two 
ways; by a Castoreum, or song for a victory won in the chariot-race, 
and by an 'lo\dov vfivos, which was due to the victor who drove his 
own car, as was done on the present occasion. 



228 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [17-34 

the staunchest charioteers ever born, the one to Lace- 
daemon, the other to Thebes. And at the games they 
engaged in most contests, and adorned their houses 
with tripods and caldrons and libation-vessels of 
gold, on attaining their crowns of victory. Their 
valour too is conspicuously seen in their running 
stripped to the goal, and in the race under the 
heavy lumbering shield. 1 How brightly too did they 
shine when darting with spears, and when they 
threw with stone quoits ; for there was not then 2 
the pentathlum, but a reward was proposed for each 
enterprise. Often did they crown their locks with 
several chaplets from these contests at once, and show 
themselves as victors to the waters of Dirce and close 
by the Eurotas, 3 the son of Iphicles (Iolaus) a fellow- 
citizen with the family of the Sparti, and the son of 
Tyndareus inhabiting the highland town of The- 
rapnae among the Achaeans. 4 But enough of this 
theme ; Poseidon and sacred Isthmus and Onchestus 
on the shore 5 I am now investing with a song, and 
in doing this I shall make mention, as deriving 
renown from the honours of the victor, of the for- 



1 The thud of the circular shield is alluded to, as it struck against 
the limbs of the racer. 

2 Viz., in Castor's time. 

3 Eivers were Kovporp6(poi, and thus acknowledgment was made to 
them as the givers of prowess to youth. 

4 The Therapnae in Laconia. There was a place of the same name 
in Boeotia. 

5 Of Lake Copais. It is here mentioned (as Delos is at the be- 
ginning of the ode) in compliment to the god he is celebrating. 



34 " 52 ] ISTHMIAN ODE I. 229 

tune of his father Asopodorus and his adopted country 
Orchomenus, which received him in doleful plight 
out of the boundless ocean supporting himself on a 
wreck. 1 But now once more his family luck has set 
him on his old prosperity ; and he who has endured 
toil, brings forethought to aid wisdom. 2 Now if a 
man applies himself to valour with his whole desire, 
in respect both of cost and of toil, we ought to pay 
the tribute of ennobling praise with ungrudging 
hearts to those who have attained it. For 'tis a small 
gift for a poet, by saying a good word in return for all 
kinds of toil, to set up in public the fame of a noble 
deed. 3 For, though different rewards are pleasing 
to men for different pursuits, — to the sheep-breeder, 
the ploughman, the fowler, and to him who gets his 
livelihood by the sea, — yet each of these exerts him- 
self but to keep grim famine from the belly ; 
whereas he who in contests or in war has won as 
his meed comforting glory, by being eulogized re- 
ceives the highest reward 4 in the choicest praises of 
citizens and strangers. Now His but right for us, 5 in 

1 That is, when banished from Thebes, he was kindly received at 
Orchomenus. Dr. Donaldson renders ipeitiofxtvov vavayiais " driven 
ashore by shipwreck." The words do not seem capable of that sense. 
If the text is right, vavayiais appears to be used for vavayiois, "broken 
planks." 

2 The old saw iraBr)fxara fxaQ^^ara seems alluded to. It is a hint to 
Asopodorus to be more discreet in future. 

3 To raise a monument of glory, i.e., a song to the citizens as well 
as to the victor. 

4 KcpSos v\pi(TTov seems opposed to the ordinary fiiadbs of those who 
labour merely for food. 

5 Viz., as Thebans. 



230 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [52-68 

requiting the earth-shaking son of Cronus, our 
neighbour and benefactor in this chariot-race, to 
celebrate him as the giver of speed to horses, and to 
address your sons, Amphitryo, and the inland town 
of Minyas, 1 and the far-famed grove of Demeter at 
Eleusis, and Euboea, among the double courses. 2 
Thy shrine too, Protesilaus, I add to the list, raised 
for thee at Phylace by an Achaean host. However, 
to declare all the prizes which Hermes, god of 
contests, gave to Herodotus with his horses, is taken 
out of my power by the short limits of this hymn. 
And, indeed, often even that which is suppressed 
brings greater pleasure. 3 May it be his lot, now 
that he has soared aloft on the glossy pinions of 
the sweet- voiced Pierides, yet again to entwine his 
hand with sprigs from Pytho and the choicest 
wreaths of the Alpheus from the games at Olympia, 
bringing new honour to seven-gated Thebes. But 
if a man hoards at home hidden wealth, and attacks 
others with ridicule, 4 he does not consider that he 
will have to resign his life to Hades without glory. 

1 Orchomenus, the adopted country of the victor's father. 

2 That is, in which the victor had won prizes, as well as at the 
Isthmus. 

3 See jSemea v. 17. To leave some virtues or glories untold, so as 
to become known gradually and incidentally, is better than to exhaust 
at once the whole theme of a man's merits. 

4 This seems addressed to some who had blamed the expenses in- 
curred by Herodotus in horse-racing. 



231 



ODE II. 

To Xenocrates of Agrigentum, who had won 
the prize in the chariot-race, b.c. 476. This is the 
same victor to whom the sixth Pythian ode is ad- 
dressed. On that occasion his son Thrasybulus was 
the driver of the car, and he is now addressed in 
complimentary terms as a handsome youth. The 
victor's brother Thero had won the prize with the 
chariot at Olympia, and in ver. 50 of the second 
Olympian ode allusion is made to the present victory 
as having been won with four horses in the long 
heat. As Xenocrates appears to be spoken of as 
dead in ver. 36, it is thought that this ode may 
have been composed for Thrasybulus in celebrating 
the anniversary of his father's victory four years 
later, b.c. 472. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

Apology to Thrasybulus for delay, on the ground that 
poets must now write for hire. — The victories of Xenocrates 
both at the Isthmia and the Pythia, and also at Athens. — 
Recognition of Nicomachus, the driver of the car at Athens, 
by the heralds from Olympia, who had known him at the 
contests there. — Thero's victory at Olympia. — Praises of 
Xenocrates for his courtesy and hospitality. — Thrasybulus 
is exhorted not to keep back the ode through fear that the 
praises of his father might be unpopular to the government 
of Agrigentum, which had now become democratic. 



232 THE ODES OF PINDAR. t 1 " 13 

The men of old, my Thrasybulus, 1 who went on 
the car of the Muses to meet their friends with the 
loud-toned lute, 2 promptly shot forth at their 
favourites the arrows of sweet-voiced song, when 
any one was handsome and of that charming youth- 
ful bloom that wooes the goddess-queen of love. For 
the Muse was not in those days fond of gain nor an 
hireling, 3 nor were sweet soft- voiced strains sold by 
the honey-toned Terpsichore, with silvered faces. 4 
But now-a-days she bids us observe the saying of the 
Argive (Aristodemus), which goes very near to the 
paths of truth : " Money, money makes the man," 
he said, when with his property he had lost also 
his friends. As you are clever, you understand my 
meaning 5 in a song, intended to honour the Isthmian 

1 The young son of the victor, Xenocrates, who was now dead. 
This youth had acted as charioteer to his father in a Pythian victory 
(see Pyth. vi.), to which perhaps there is an allusion in the opening 
words oi is hitypov Moio-av %$aivov. 

2 So rbv evepyerav viroLVTiavai, Pyth. v. 41. Dr. Donaldson renders 
it " taking up the lyre." Compare however 01. ii. 39, ef ovirep 
€KT€ii/6 Aaov fx6piixos vtbs avvavr6/jL€j/os. The metaphor is from a pro- 
cession formed to escort some hero, and do honour to his entry. 

3 The poet apologises for not having at once sent his handsome 
young friend an ode on his father's victory, by the plea that he was 
engaged to compose other odes for hire. 

* " With hire in their looks," Donaldson. The figure seems taken 
rather from overlaying the faces of statues with plates of precious 
metal (the bracteae of the Eomans). And this seems the meaning of 
Kar-qpyvpcanivoS) " besilvered," in Soph. Antig. 1077. Compare also 
Nem. x. 43, apyvpcod eures avv cpiaAais airefiav. 

5 ovk &yv(arci. must certainly refer to the preceding remark about 
money, and not to 'lo-d/iiav vinav, which is the common way of taking 
it, though it gives no logical meaning to the passage. I take vlnav as 
the accusative after yepaipow in ver. 17, to which a secondary accusa- 
tive is added, by a very common idiom, evapfxaroy &vBpa. 



13 - 3 °] ISTHMIAN ODE II. 233 

victory with horses, which Poseidon gave to 
Xenocrates, and sent him a wreath of Doric parsley 
wherewith to bind his hair, — a man skilled in the 
chariot, the pride of the people of Agrigentum. At 
Crisa too 1 the widely-prevailing Apollo regarded him 
with favour, and gave him there also a victory ; and, 
with the glorious honours of the Erechthidae fitted 
to his brow in shining Athens, he had no fault to 
find with the chariot-preserving hand of the man 
Nicomachus who drave his steeds, and applied it 
at the right moment to all the reins. 2 Him too 
the heralds of the seasons recognised, the Elean 
truce-bearers of Zeus the son of Cronus, having 
received from him elsewhere a hospitable service, 
and in sweetly-breathed tones they greeted him as 
having fallen at the knees of golden victory in their 
land, 3 which men call the sacred enclosure of Olym- 
pian Zeus, and where the sons of Aenesidamus 4 
attained immortal honours. For your house, my 
Thrasybulus, is not unacquainted with much-desired 

1 At Delphi also he gained a victory, viz., that celebrated in 
Pyth. vi. 

2 Xicomachus seems to have tried the dangerous though here suc- 
cessful experiment of letting the horse go unchecked and at full speed 
round the pillar at the turn of the race. 

3 When the Elean truce-bearers were proclaiming at Athens the 
advent of the Olympic festival, tiny there met with Nicomachus, and 
greeted him as a friend who had shown them hospitality on some 
former occasion (perhaps at his iirtviKta), and as the driver of the vic- 
torious car (perhaps that of Thero, the brother of the present victor, 
see 01. ii.), in their native land of Elis, i.e., at Olympia. 

4 Thero and Xenocrates ; though the former alone seems properly 
meant. 



234 THE ODES OF PINDAR. L 31 " 48 

comus-songs nor with honey-voiced strains. For 
His no hill, nor is the path a steep one, by which 
a poet brings to the houses of famous men the 
honours of the goddesses of Helicon. By a long 
throw may I fling the quoit 1 as far as Xenocrates 
surpassed other men in sweetness of temper. He 
won respect in his converse with citizens, and he 
kept up the breeding of horses according to the 
general custom of the Hellenes; beside which he 
devoted himself to the service of the gods at all 
their festivals, nor did the breeze that wafted him at 
his hospitable table ever cause him to draw in his 
sail ; 2 but he used to pass to the Phasis with summer 
airs, and in winter made voyages to the shores of 
the Nile. Let not Thrasybulus, merely because 
jealous bodings beset the minds of mortals, on any 
occasion now 3 suppress the mention of his father's 
prowess, nor these hymns ; for indeed I did not 
compose them to lie idle. Tell him that, Nicasippus, 
when you reach the house of my familiar friend. 

1 That is, sing his praises ; a common Pindaric image. 

2 Compare a similar metaphor in Dem. Mid., p. 537, t<£ firjtiej/ 
viroa-reiXafjieuq) irpbs vfipiv. The " breeze" here meant is the spirit of 
hospitality, which never failed him nor suffered him to contract his 
expenses. The words that follow mean, that at all times of the year 
he pursued the voyage of hospitality. Except to Egypt, the Greeks 
did not sail in the winter season. 

3 Viz., since his father is dead, he must not be deterred from singing 
his praises by reciting this hymn, even though some citizens were 
jealous of his fame. 



235 



ODE III. 

Melissus, a Theban, gained the prize in the pan- 
cratium. The date is believed to be either B.C. 478 
or 474, since the deadly battle mentioned in ver. 35 
was probably that at Plataea, B.C. 479. From ver. 
11 it appears that the victor had also won in a 
horse-race at jNemea. He was also a member of the 
clan of the Cleonymidae (ver. 22), who are spoken 
of as celebrated for their successes, and generally 
for their popularity. From ver. 61 and 83 it has 
been inferred that the present ode was sung in the 
late evening at a meeting of the clan. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

Good fortune used with moderation is deserving of praise, 
and is more lasting with the right-minded. — Victory deserves 
praise, and Melissus has been twice successful. — He does not 
disgrace his ancestors in his prowess. — Reverses experienced 
by the Cleonymidae, especially in recent losses in battle. — 
Their high repute for moderation and valour. — The present 
victory is a recompense for past misfortunes. — They had com- 
peted before at the great games, but without success, for 
sometimes inferior men have the advantage. — The case of 
Ajax defeated by Ulysses in the contest for the arms. — The 
office of the poet in perpetuating a victor's fame. — The skill 
and cunning of Melissus, though a man of small stature, in 
the pancratium. — So Hercules defeated the giant Antaeus — 



236 THE ODES OF PINDAR. C 1 " 17 

Exploits of that hero, and the worship instituted by the 
Thebans to his sons. — Melissus had conquered thrice in these 
games. — Mention of Orseas, who had been his trainer. 

If any man who lias been successful, either when 
he has got glorious prizes 1 or when he is strong in 
wealth, restrains in his mind darkly-brooding pride, 
he deserves to meet with the good words of the citi- 
zens. But 'tis from thee alone, Zeus, that deeds of 
high emprize attend upon mortals. Their prosperity 
lives longer in those who revere thee ; with perverse 
minds it does not thrive, nor stay alike for all time. 2 
If we should chaunt the praises of the brave to 
requite him for his glorious deeds, then we ought 
to extol with jocund strains this victor conducting 
his comus-song. Now Melissus has had the luck of 
two prizes, "to turn his heart to sweet festivity ; once, 
when he received a crown in the dells of Isthmus, 
and again when in the hollow vale of the shaggy- 
breasted lion he proclaimed Thebes his country as a 
victor in the chariot-race. And he does not disgrace 
the inborn valour of his heroic house. 3 Ye know, of 
course, the ancient fame of Cleonymus 4 with the 
chariot ; on their mother's side too they were related 
to the Labdacidae, and walked in wealth for the toils 

1 The student will be careful not to construe €vrvxr}crais avi> 
as6\ois. The sense is, i% (av & e ^a $ ttAoOto// /caTe'xe* nopov. 

2 Or, "does not thrive equally as with the religions." 

3 Or, " disprove the fact that valour is inborn in men." 

4 The founder of the clan of the Cleonyniidae, to whom the present 
victor belonged. 



17-34] ISTHMIAN ODE III. 237 

of the four-horsed cars. 1 Yet time, as days roll on, 
brings many and various changes, albeit the sons of 
the gods are exempt from wounds. I have, by 
favour of heaven, many roads in every direction; 2 
for you, Melissus, have shown me a ready resource 
by your Isthmian victory, so as to pursue in song 
the theme of your family glories, in which the 
Cleonymidae have ever flourished, with the favour of 
the gods, while they pass through the term of life 
allotted to mortals. But all men are liable to be 
driven by gales that impel them differently at dif- 
ferent times. 3 They then are reckoned among the 
honoured ones of old at Thebes, both as patrons of 
the neighbouring peoples and as free from boisterous 
insolence ; and whatever testimonies are borne on the 
winds 4 among men of the mighty renown whether of 
the living or the dead, that renown they have attained 
to in all its fulness. For by the deeds of valour of 
their house they have reached the remotest pillars of 
Hercules. Pursue not a virtue that goes beyond 
that. Breeders of horses likewise were they, and 
votaries of mail-clad Ares : but alas ! in a single day 

1 I have rendered this literally. The sense is, as Dr. Donaldson 
gives it. "they had riches enough to maintain horses equal to the 
labours of the race." 

2 That is, to pursue in praise of the Cleonymidae. 

3 This appeare to be said to appease the jealousy that might be felt 
at the too frequent successes of the Cleonymidae ; or perhaps in 
reference to reversea they had experienced in the State. Compare for 
the expression 01. vii. fin. 

4 Compare volitare per ora, Virg. Georg. iii. 9. 



238 



THE ODES OF PINDAR. 



[35-49 



the rough 1 snow-storm of war bereaved a happy home 
of four heroes. Yet now once more after the wintry 
darkness it has blossomed, even as the earth does in the 
flowery months with scarlet roses, 2 by the counsels of 
the gods. For the mover of the earth, who is enshrined 
at Onchestus and on the reef across the sea before the 
walls of Corinth, in giving to the family this art- 
fully-composed song is bringing back from its repose 
the ancient fame for noble deeds ; for it had fallen 
asleep. But now it awakes, all shining in its form, 
as Lucifer is seen conspicuous amidst other stars. 
For by declaring a victory with the car in the land 
of Athens and at the games of Adrastus at Sicyon, 
it gave 3 the like crowns of song in praise of those 
then living. 4 Nor did they abstain from contending 
with the chariot in the public games, but delighted 
to compete with the whole Hellenic race in spending 
money on horses. For those who make no effort 
pass away in silence and unknown. Sometimes 
however Fortune refuses to show 5 herself even to 



1 In reference to the stones and other missiles hurled, which are 
often called vicpaSes by the poets. The battle of Plataea is probably 
alluded to. 

2 The scarlet anemone is meant, which in spring is said to fill the 
woods both in Asia Minor and the Peloponnesus. They are alluded to 
also in Pyth. iv. 64. — The sense is, " the house of the Cleonymidae 
has been fortunate in the present victory after its severe losses." 

3 The subject is (pd/ia iraXaia, which is well said /capiWe**/, etc. 

4 That is, those members of the clan of the Cleonymidae. 

5 Lit., "there is an obscurity of fortune," or absence of conspicuous 
success. The sense is, " a victory is sometimes gained only after 
many failures." 



50 " 65 ] ISTHMIAN ODE III. 239 

those who contend, before they have attained the 
final success. For she dispenses her gifts variously. 1 
Even a better man was once caught and overthrown 
by the craft of his inferiors. You know, of course, 
the bloody feat of Ajax, which he performed in the 
late evening by falling on his sword, and so bringing 
blame on all the sons of the Hellenes who went to 
Troy. But Homer has done honour to his memory 
among men ; for by setting up a monument of all 
his valorous deeds he has made them known by the 
reciting of his divine poems for future bards to take 
as their theme. 2 For that goes on to all time with a 
voice of its own, if aught has been well sung by a 
poet. Over the fruitful earth and across the sea 
goes the bright light of glorious deeds, never to be 
extinguished. May I obtain the favour of the 
Muses, to light up such a beacon of songs also for 
Melissus ! — a worthy meed for the scion of Telesias' 
son in the pancratium. For, like them in daring, he 
aims at the spirit of the roaring lions in the con- 
flict ; but in craft he is as a fox, which by throwing 



1 Lit., "For she (rvxa) gives (some) of this and (some) of that." 

2 This is a remarkable passage, if we fully consider its import. The 
death of Ajax, as described in the play of Sophocles, is only once 
briefly alluded to in our Odyssey. But in Pindar's " Bomer" it was 
a principal theme among the exploits of that lino. As elsewhere, 
Pindar only knows the Homeric poems from the rhapsodist's recita- 
tions. By Kara pd@dov inewv he means, perhaps, "pronounced 
according to the time and emphasis of the rhapsodist's staff," or 
baton. 



240 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [65-79 

itself back \ keeps off the wheeling attack of the 
eagle. And it is fair to do anything to throw an 
enemy into the shade. For he had not the stature 
of an Orion, but he was insignificant to look at, 
though heavy to grapple with from his strength. 
Yet once to the house of Antaeus from Cadmeian 
Thebes there came a man to wrestle with him, 
shorter in stature but unflinching in courage, even 
to the corn-bearing Libya, that he might stop him 
from roofing the temple of Poseidon with the skulls 
of strangers. 3 The son of Alcmena was he, who passed 
to the sky after exploring the surface of all the earth 
and the basin of the high-cliffed glistening sea, 
and having cleared the passage for navigation. 3 And 
now he dwells with the aegis-bearing god, enjoy- 
ing a most blessed prosperity ; and he is honoured by 
the immortals as their friend, and is the spouse of 
Hebe, lord of the gilded home and the son-in-law of 
Hera. To him, on a height commanding the gates 
of Electra, we citizens provide a feast, and prizes at 

1 Lit., "expanding itself," i.e., lying on its back with outstretched 
legs, and so feigning death ; as the eagle was believed to attack only 
living creatures. Some such manoeuvre had been adopted by Melissus, 
who was rather a small man, to defeat in the scuffle {pancratium) a 
stronger adversary. 

2 A very ancient and still not unknown custom among the lowest 
tribes of man, to whom so many of the African races belong, But 
" roofing" is here perhaps to be taken for " hanging on the eaves," as 
in II. i. 39. 

3 Doubtless by destroying the pirates, as Minos is said to have done, 
Thuc. i. 8. This mention of Hercules, which at first sight seems out 
of place, is meant to introduce other victories won by Melissus at the 
tomb of that hero's children at Thebes. 



80 ~ 9 °] ISTHMIAN ODE III. 241 

the turf-built altars, 1 where we keep up burnt 
sacrifices in honour of the eight mail-clad warriors 
deceased, whom Megara the daughter of Oreon bore 
him as his sons. To them at the setting of the light 
a flame rising high in air is kept continuously 
burning through the night, 2 striking the upper air 
with its savoury smoke. The second day is appointed 
for the decision of the annual games, 3 the trial of 
strength. There did our hero, 4 his head white with 
myrtle-flowers, display a double victory, beside one 
that he had already gained over boys, by obeying 5 the 
sagacious judgment of his trainer and helmsman. 
And with the name of Orseas I now associate him in 
the comus-song, shedding on him this pleasing 
tribute of praise. 

1 Or perhaps, " crowns (in/nlae, or wreaths of flowers) newly made 
for decorating the altars." 

2 The Chthonian worship of heroes had many analogies to devil- 
worship. Like most early forms of religious rites, it was dictated far 
more by fear than by love, and was generally attended by a cruel 
sacrifice of life, with the idea of glutting the demons with blood, and 
so propitiating them. 

3 Or, u carrying off of annual prizes." — Dr. Donaldson. 

4 Or perhaps, tk as a full-grown man," in opposition to icMtav. 

5 viOew is used intransitively, as in Pyth. iii. 28. 



16 



242 



ODE IV. 

The Phylacidas of Aegina, the son of Lampo, 
to whom this and the following ode are inscribed, 
was the brother of Pytheas, the youthful pancratist, 
commemorated in the fifth Nemean ode. The pre- 
sent victory was also gained in the pancratium, two 
years after the battle of Salamis, B.C. 478. There is 
a distinct mention of that conflict by name in ver. 
49. Dr. Donaldson thinks that the ode was sung in 
Aegina, at the house of Lampo, probably on the 
festal day of the goddess Theia. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

Invocation of the goddess Theia as the giver of wealth. — 
Wealth is the motive of competition in all men ; but fame 
is the higher meed of victors in the games. — The successes of 
Phylacidas and his brother Pytheas at the Isthmus and at 
Nemea. — They are worthy countrymen of the Aeacidae, who 
reigned in widely distant parts of Hellas, and who gained 
such renown at Troy. — Even recently Aegina has won glory 
in battle. — Boasting is dangerous, but even this recent vic- 
tory in the games deserves praise. — To Pytheas the success 
is partly due, for his skill in training his brother. 

Mother of the sun, 1 Theia of many names ; 'tis 

1 See Hesiod, Theog. 371. From the golden hue of the sun and 
the moon, this Titanian goddess was believed to impart its colour and 
therefore its value also to gold. 



2 ~ 22 ] ISTHMIAN ODE IV. 243 

through thee that men esteem all-powerful wealth 
beyond all else; yea, even ships racing 1 on the sea, 
and horses in cars, through the honour thou, 
queen, dost give, become the admired of all in the 
quickly- circling contests. In the athletic games too 
that man achieves desired glory 2 whose locks many 
a wreath hath bound when a victor in prowess of 
hand or swiftness of foot. And it is ever through 
the gods that the valour of men becomes distin- 
guished. Now there are two conditions which 
specially enhance the genial enjoyment of life, with 
thriving wealth ; if a man is fortunate in a contest, 
and if he receives for it goodly praise. Seek not 
then to become a god ; you have all, if the fortune 
of these honours should come to you. The lot of 
mortals best befits mortal men. Now for you, Phy- 
lacidas, a twofold crown 3 of valour is stored at the 
Isthmus, and at Nemea for both of you, (yourself) 
and your brother Pytheas 4 in the pancratium. But 
I have no heart to engage in song apart from the 
Aeacidae ; 5 and it is to this city of good laws that I 
have now come with my poems for the sons of 

1 Hastening home with merchandise. 

2 That is, through the same goddess, as the giver of riches to enable 
him to compete successfully. But perhaps we should read iv 5* 
aywviois, etc., in this em 086 J "but in the games not money but glory 
is the reward." The sentiment would thus be the same as in Isthm. 
i. 50. 

3 Viz., the victories celebrated in this and the next ode. 

4 In whose honour Nem. v. was composed. 

5 The local heroes of A< gina, to whom the present victor belonged. 
For the celebrity of that island for justice, see 01. ix. 15. 



244 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [22-39 

Lampo. If therefore it has taken the clear high 
road of heaven-sent victories, grudge not to mix for 
it 1 in the song the proper meed of praise in requital 
for its toils. For even those of the heroes of old 
who were brave warriors, have found their gain in 
story ; they have been sung on lutes and with the 
varied tones of pipes 2 for countless time ; and to 
poets they have supplied a theme through the favour 
of Zeus. So the sturdy sons of Oeneus are worshipped 
with the pomp of sacrifices among the Aetolians ; 
while at Thebes the horse-driving Iolaus has his 
honours, Perseus at Argos, and the spear of Castor 3 
and Polydeuces at the stream of the Eurotas ; but 
in Oenone 4 the magnanimous dispositions 5 of Aeacus 
and his sons, who not without many a fight twice 
sacked the city of the Trojans, on the former occasion 
accompanying Hercules, 6 and again with the Atridae. 
Drive now, my Muse, from the earth; 7 say who 
slew Cycnus, who Hector, and the undaunted leader 

1 The blending of the harmonies is compared, by a common figure, 
to the mixing of a wassail bowl. The island is virtually identified 
with the victor. 

2 Compare 01. vii. 12. 

3 That is, Castor as a warrior. 

4 The old name of Aegina. 

5 It is hard to render fieyaK^ropes bpyaX satisfactorily. Partly, the 
expression has reference to Achilles, who is often said to have dvfibj/ 
fieyav in our Homeric text. The verses next following, which only 
partially agree with that text, are deserving of careful consideration. 

6 Telamon is here meant. 

7 That is, ascend in song, as in ]S^m. vii. 75, e? ti irepav aipdels 
avsKpayov. Dr. Donaldson follows ffissen in rendering the phrase 
perge ab origine. Perhaps the figure was borrowed from the winged 
Pegasus. 



4 °- 5 '] ISTHMIAN ODE IV. 245 

of the Aethiopians, the brass-clad Memnon. What 
hero wounded with his lance the brave Telephus by 
the banks of Ca'icus ? They were those whose 
country my mouth declares to have been Aegina, 
that most renowned island ; and it has long ago been 
built up as a tower for lofty virtues to ascend. 1 
^lany are the arrows of song that my truthful 
tongue has in store for me, that I may loudly 
chaunt their praise ; and even in the late war/ 2 
Salamis, the city of Ajax, could bear witness 
that it was saved by Aegina's sailors in the 
destructive rain-storm from Zeus, when death came 
thick as hail on those countless hosts. Nevertheless, 
suppress boasting by silence. 3 Zeus dispenses now 
this lot, now that, 4 — Zeus, who is lord of all. As a 
theme for charming song, such honours as these too 5 
welcome a merry glee of victory. Let a man con- 
tend in deeds of chivalry, when he has thoroughly 
learned what the family of Cleonicus 6 can do. The 
long course of toil of these men is by no means lost 

1 It has lone been regarded as the model of the highest excellence, 
and an example for others to imitate. 

> Thi< ode was composed n.c. 478, only two years after the battle of 
Salamis. 

3 A metaphor from laying dust by sprinkling water. 

4 That Lb, evil may come of boasting. Perhaps this is said to avoid 
riving offence to other states, which did not concede to Aegina the 

apio-reta in the fight. 

5 Victory in the games as well Bfl in war. 

6 lie appears to have been the father of Lampo, and the grandfather 
of the present victor. The phrase IS a kind of challenge, meaning, 
4 * few will contend with this family, when they know 7 how valiant they 



246 THE ODES OF. PINDAR. [57-63 

to sight ; nor did the question, what was the cost of 
attaining their hopes, once damp their ardour. I 
have a good word to say also of Pytheas, 1 that he 
directed the course of the blows for Phylacidas in 
the limb- subduing grapple of hands, an antagonist 
cunning in skill. Take for him a crown, and bring 
the fleecy fillets, 2 and send along with him the 
winged accents of the new comus-song. 

1 The victor's brother, who, by winning on a former occasion at 
Nemea, had, as it were, shown Phylacidas how to conquer. Both had 
entered the lists in the pancratium. 

2 The ribands of the crown probably hung down over the neck, 
and so are compared to the eastern fxWpa. See 01. ix. 84 ; Nem. 
viii. 15. 



247 



ODE V. 

To the same Phylacidas, also as victor in the 
pancratium, for whom the preceding ode was com- 
posed. It is earlier in date, and from the absence of 
all allusion to it, is thought to be anterior to the 
battle of Salamis. The mention of the wassail-bowl 
and the banquet in ver. 1-9 makes it probable that, 
like the preceding, this ode was sung at an enter- 
tainment in Lampo's house. 

SUMMAEY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

The poet trusts that a second libation to commemorate a 
second victory (that of Pytheas at Nemea being the first) 
may prove the omen of a third at Olympia. — Lampo's liber- 
ality and energy, as well as his general good fortune, vouch 
for a future success. Prayer to the Fates to bring such an 
event to pass. — The glories of the Aeacidae furnish a fitting 
theme in speaking of Aegina. — Their wide reputation all 
over the known world. — The adventures of Ajax and 
Telamon at Troy. — The prayer of Hercules to Zeus, that a 
son might be born to his friend Telamon, and the omen of 
his name, Ajax. — The poet returns from the digression to 
the praises of the victor and his brother, and other relations. 
— Honourable mention of Lampo, who had trained his sons 
for the contest. 

As when men are taking part in a feast of good 



248 THE ODES OF PINDAR. I" 1 " 18 

cheer (the wassail-bowl is mixed 1 ), so now do we 
mix a second bowl of honeyed music in behalf of 
another son of Lampo who has been successful in the 
contest. Our first was to thee, Zeus, at Nemea, 
where we received the choicest of crowns ; now again 
this second one is to the lord of the Isthmus and to 
the fifty Nereids, Lampo's youngest son Phylacidas 
being the victor ; and may it be our fortune to pre- 
pare yet a third for the saving god at Olympia, and 
so to honour Aegina with the libation of honey-toned 
strains ! 2 For if a man by cheerfully bearing both 
the cost and the toil achieves god-sent honours, and 
at the same time fortune plants for him much- 
desired glory ; that man now anchors at the furthest 
limit of prosperity, and is the honoured of the gods. 
With such dispositions does the son of Oleonicus 
pray that he may calmly meet 3 death in hoary old 
age. But I call on high- enthroned Clotho and her 
sister Fates to attend to the earnest appeals 4 of my 

1 For the ellipse in this passage compare the beginning of 01. vi. 
The poet refers to the triple libation made after banquets, the third 
being to Zeus Swnrjp. Hence rpiros ^corrjp, rpirr] ^oorripi, etc., are 
phrases common in Aeschylus. The three victories alluded to are — 
1, that of Pytheas at Nemea ; 2, that of the present victor at the 
Isthmus ; 3, one that was yet in contemplation at Olympia, and on 
which the poet appropriately invokes the aid of the saving god, by the 
title of 'OAvfjLirios. 

2 So Eur. Orest. 1239, daicpvois KaTcunrevdoo (re. 

3 There is some difficulty in ai/Tidaais Sel-aordai, for different versions 
of which see Dr. Donaldson's note. The sense seems to be, that with 
such feelings, viz. that success in the games is the height of human 
glory, old Lampo is ready to meet his end, having attained all happi- 
ness in his sons, — lit., "to receive by going to meet it." 

4 Lit., " the loudly-uttered commands. " 



19 " 36 ] ISTHMIAN ODE V. 249 

friend. You likewise, Aeacids of the golden car, I say 
it is a very plain rule with me, whenever I enter on 
the subject of this island, to bedew with my praises. 
And numerous are the wide roads of glorious 
deeds that have been laid out in long straight lines, 
both beyond the sources of the Mle and through the 
Hyperboreans. 1 Nor is there any city so uncivilized 
or so different in language, as not to have heard of 
the fame of the hero Peleus, the fortunate husband 
of a goddess ; 2 nor of Ajax the son of Telamon and 
his father ; whom erst to the spear-loving war the 
son of Alcmena took in his fleet with a Tirynthian 
host, a willing ally in his voyage to Troy, a cause 
of toil to many a hero, to avenge the fraud of 
Laomedon. 3 And he captured the citadel of Per- 
gamus, and slew with Telamon's aid the nations of 
the Meropes, and that herdsman, huge as a mountain, 
whom he met with at Phlegrae, Alcyoneus ; and free 
use with his hands did Hercules make of the loudly- 
twanging bow-string. But when he went to summon 
the son of Aeacus for the voyage, he found them all 

1 The sense is, " there are many roads I might pursue in praise of 
the Aeacidae, either southwards, so as to describe the Ethiopian 
Memnon slain by Achilles, or northwards, to describe the journey of 
Hercules and Telamon to the Danube," 01. ii. 16. 

2 Lit., "son-in-law of the gods." — It is plainly stated in this passage, 
that five centuries before the Christian era, the story of the marriage 
of Peleus and Thetis had become everywhere famous. Our Homer, — 
a compilation from these older ballads, — has only the faintest allusions 
to it. 

s See II. xxi. 4-31. 



250 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [37-52 

feasting. 1 Him then, as lie stood in his lion's skin, 
— the son of Amphitryo mighty in the spear, — 
Telamon challenged to make a beginning (of the 
voyage) by a libation of nectar ; and he handed him, 
as chief of the party, a wine-holding libation- vessel 
embossed in gold. And he accordingly raised to 
heaven his invincible hands, and uttered these words : 
" If ever, Father Zeus, thou didst hear my prayer 
with willing heart, now, even now, with earnest 
entreaties do I implore thee to give this man a son, 
born in due time from Eriboea, 2 a brave son, to be 
my heaven-appointed guest, — a son invulnerable in 
body, even as is this hide that now hangs round me, 
stripped from the lion which erst I slew at Nemea, 
the first of all my labours ; and let him have courage 
to match." As he said this, the god forthwith sent 
the king of birds, a mighty eagle ; and sweet joy 
thrilled through him, and he spake with loud 
utterance as a prophet, " The son shall be given you 
whom you ask, Telamon;" and he called him, 

1 From Nem. vii. 86, it appears that Hercules was a friend (£e2Vos) 
of Aeacus. 

2 This passage is very obsciire. With Dr. Donaldson, I think 
reXccrai vlbv refers to bringing a child to his full time, and not letting 
it be prematurely born. But Dr. Donaldson makes ^hov afxhv the 
subject to TeAeVcu, which is very harsh : " that my friend may get a 
son from Eriboea." It would be better to take it as the object, "to 
make my friend happy." The only natural construction is to make 
^eivov a/jLhv in opposition to iraiBa. And Hercules might pray to see as 
his own friend the yet unborn son of a friendly sire. Sir. J ebb (Preface 
to the Ajax, p. vii.) translates it thus : " I beg from thee for this man 
a son of Eriboea' s womb ; that under favouring fates my friend may 
gain a son," etc. 



52 " 69 ] ISTHMIAN ODE Y. 251 

after the name of the bird that had appeared/ Ajax 
the broad and the strong, a hero formidable in the 
martial conflicts of hosts. So spake he, and forth- 
with sate down. But for me 'twere long to relate 
all the deeds of valour (of the Aeacidae). For it 
was for Phylacidas that I came, Muse, a dispenser 
of thy comus- songs, and for Pytheas and for Euthy- 
menes. 2 Therefore, in the Argive fashion, all shall 
be told in the briefest words. For they won three 
victories in the pancratium from Isthmus, and others 
from leafy Nemea, these illustrious sons (of Lampo) 
and their mother's brother ; and they have brought 
back to light how glorious a share in the national 
songs, 3 and the clan of the Psalychidae they have 
refreshed with the choicest dew of poesy. Thus 
have they restored to fame the house of Themistius, 4 
and inhabit a city which is the favourite of heaven. 
And Lampo, in giving attention to deeds of valour, 
himself holds in great honour this saying of Hesiod, 5 
and tells it to his sons with the advice to follow it, 
bringing a common credit on his own city. He is 



1 Viz.", Afas as from alerSs. It seems necessary to take k€k\€t 
for kckAgto, and thus as part of the narrative and not of the speech ; 
but the sense is the same as if he had said earai rot irals, /ce/cA^/xeVos 
Afas. It is further to be observed, that the epithet ebpvjiias seems to 
have reference to apxbs olcoucou. 

2 The maternal ancle of the victor ; sec Nem. v. 41-3. 

3 AVhich had lain dormant, as it were, for some time in the clan of 
the Psalychidae. For the expression compare Isthm. iii. 40. 

4 The father of Euthymenes. 

5 fie\€T7) 5e T€ ipyov btytXKei, Opp. 411. 



252 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [70-75 

liked, too, for his kindnesses to strangers, for lie 
pursues reasonable views in his mind, and holds fast 
to reason (in his actions) ; l nor does his language 
depart from his sentiments. You might say that to 
men in the wrestling-schools he was what a Naxian 
brass-reducing whetstone 2 is among other kinds of 
rock. I will give him to drink the sacred water of 
Dirce, 3 which the deep-waisted daughters 4 of gold- 
kirtled Mnemosyne caused to spring up by (one of) 
the well-built gates of Cadmus. 

1 A bold ellipse, certainly ; yet such seems the poet's meaning. 

2 He means, perhaps, that he sharpens others by his example. 
There is the same metaphor in 01. xi. 20. "The Naxian rock" is 
that now known as emery (corundum), which is still classed among 
whetstones. 

3 That is, I will send him a song from Thebes. Compare 01. vi. 85. 

4 Viz., the Muses. 



253 



ODE VI. 

This ode, composed in honour of Strepsiades of 
Thebes, for a victory in the pancratium, is rather 
late in date, and is referred to a period shortly after 
the battle of Oenophyta, viz., B.C. 456. The defeat 
of the aristocratic interests and the introduction of 
democratic principles by the Athenians after that 
event are lamented in ver. 37. In ver. 16 an allu- 
sion seems made to the ingratitude of Sparta in 
leaving the Thebans to contend with Athens alone. 
The ode was probably sung at the shrine of the 
goddess Theba. 



& 



SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT. 

The legendary glories of Thebes in her heroes and 
heroines. — A new glory is now added by the victory of Strep- 
siades.— The loss of his uncle (of the same name) in the 
wars is lamented. — His self-devotion is compared to that of 
Meleager and Hector.— A calm has now succeeded to the 
storm.— The danger of too high aspirations illustrated by the 
fall of Bellerophou from Pegasus. 

With which of your former local honours, 
goddess Theba, did you most delight your mind ? 
Was it when the companion of the cymbal-wor- 
shipped Demeter, the flowing-haired Dionysus, was 



254 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [ 5 22 

born to you out of the earth. ? l Or when you enter- 
tained the king of the gods, in that midnight shower 
of flakes of gold, when he stood at Amphitryo's 
doors, and seduced the wife by the begetting of 
Hercules ? 2 Or when you took pleasure in the 
prudent counsels of Teiresias, or in Iolaus the skilled 
manager of steeds, or in the Sparti, unwearied by 
the spear? Or when you sent back Adrastus to 
horse-breeding Argos out of the noisy war- shout, 
with the loss of his numerous hosts ? Or when you 
recovered the Dorian colony of the men of Lace- 
daemon, 3 and Amyclae was taken by the Aegidae, 
your own children, through the oracle at Pytho ? 
But alas ! ancient glories fall asleep ; men forget all 
save that which, by being attuned to the sweet 
strains of verse, has reached the highest reward of 
poesy. 4 Go then, and after all these honours conduct 
a comus with honeyed strains for Strepsiades also. 5 
For he has carried off at the Isthmus a victory in the 
pancratium. Striking for his great strength is he, 

1 The autochthony of the god, i.e., his first appearing at Thebes, is 
so expressed. The verb is thus used in the last verse of the preceding 
ode. 

2 This legend seems a variant of that commonly referred to the 
amour with Danae. See Nem. x. 17. 

3 Lit., " set upon upraised ankle." The Theban family of Aegidae 
had joined the Heraclids in invading the Peloponnese and recovering 
Amyclae, in what is commonly known as " the return of the Hera- 
clidae." See Pyth. i: 65 ; v. 70. 

4 It is difficult to render a sentence involving confused metaphors 
from^ow^rs, streams, and the yokvig of horses. 

5 Add to your many glories of old the present victory of a Theban. 



' 22 " 42 ] ISTHMIAN ODE VI. 255 

and comely to behold ; and he brings to the contest 
a valour that belies not his stature. And now he is 
made illustrious by the pansy-tressed Muses, and to 
his uncle of the same name he has given a share in 
his crown ; for though Ares with the brazen shield 
brought him death, yet honour is in store as a recom- 
pense for the good. For let that man well under- 
stand, who in the drizzling mist of war repels the 
hail-shower of blood in defence of his dear country, 1 
dealing death to the opposing host, that he keeps up 
their high renown for the whole race of the citizens, 
as in life, so also when he is dead. But you, son of 
Diodotus, showing your approval of the warrior 
Meleager, of Hector too and Amphiaraus, didst 
breathe out the flower of thy youth in the ranks of 
the foremost in the fight, where the bravest sus- 
tained the strife of war in the forlorn hope. I 
suffered a loss greater than words can tell ; but now 
the earth-holding god 2 has given me a calm after a 
storm. I will sing with a chaplet fitted to my hair. 3 
Only let not the jealousy of the gods confound the 
little transient pleasure, in the pursuit of which I 
tranquilly await old age and the allotted term of life. 4 

1 Strepsiades, the victor's uncle, appears to have died in war, pro- 
bably at the battle of Oenophyta, about six months before. 

2 Poseidon, who has given to the nephew of the deceased this 
Isthmian victory. 

:i That is, putting off mourning. 

4 The literal meaning seems to be, " whatever pleasure pursuing for 
the day I shall go in quest of it tranquilly to old age and my destined 
life-time." 



256 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [42-51 

For we all of us die alike, though our lot is un- 
equal. If a man casts his eye on what is very far, 
he will prove too short to reach the brass-paved 
abode of the gods. We know that the winged 
Pegasus threw his master Bellerophon when he 
wanted to reach the stations in heaven to join the 
goodly company of Zeus. Unlawful pleasures a most 
bitter end awaits. 1 But to us grant, Loxias with the 
luxuriant golden locks, a blooming crown at thy 
contests at Pytho also. 

1 This is supposed to be aimed at the democratic party in Thebes, 
who were running into excesses through joy at the victory of the 
Athenians at Oenophyta, 



257 



ODE VII 

Oleander of Aegina, the son of Telesarchus, won 
a victory in the pancratium B.C. 480, and was also 
(ver. 4) successful at Nemea. The allusion in ver. 9 
to the defeat of the Persians is thought to indicate 
that the ode was composed somewhat later than the 
victory it commemorates. The capture of Thebes, 
on the charge of Medizing, by the allied Hellenes 
(Herod, ix. 86), appears to be referred to in ver. 9. 
This ode is interesting for containing more, perhaps, 
than any other of "Homeric" lore, i.e., of the 
ancient tales about Troy. From ver. 3 it is clear that 
it was sung in the vestibule of Telesarchus' house. 

SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT 

Though grieved at the recent events at Thebes, the poet 
resolves, now that the worst is over, to compose an ode for 
Oleander. — His anxieties are lessened by the fear of impend- 
ing slavery beiug removed. — With freedom even grief is 
curable. — The mythical relationship of Theba and Aegina. — 
The birth of Aeacus, and the virtue of his son Peleus. —His 
marriage with Thetis by the advice of Themis. — The mar- 
riage honoured by the presence of the gods. — The prowess 
of Achilles at Troy. — His death lamented by the Muses. — 
Nicocles, the deceased uncle of the victor, is praised for his 
prowess in the games as well as in the wars. — Oleander has 
followed his example, and gained honours in the local con- 
tests even in his early youth. 

17 



258 THE ODES OF PJNDAK. L 1 " 16 

Let some one of you young men go to the bright 
house-front of the victor's father Telesarchus, and 
raise the comus-song to Oleander and the companions 
of his age, 1 as a glorious recompense for his toils, — 
at once a reward for an Isthmian victory, and 
because he has achieved a success in the contests 
at Nemea. For him I too, though grieved in heart, 2 
am asked to invoke the golden Muse. And now 
that we are released from great sorrows let us not 
fall into a dearth of victories, nor foster griefs ; but, 
as we have ceased from our tiresome troubles, we 
will publicly indulge in a sweet roundelay, 3 though 
it be after toil, now that at last some god has 
turned away from us that Tantalus' stone 4 that 
hung o'er our heads, the intolerable slavery that 
threatened Hellas. However, at last the passing 
away of this fear has appeased my strong feeling 
of anxiety; and 'tis better at all times to regard 
only the matter present before us. 5 For an age of 
disappointments hangs over men, making the path of 
life crooked ; 6 and yet even these (evils) are curable 
by mortals, if they have but freedom. But a man 

1 Or, as Dr. Donaldson construes it, " for Oleander and his youth," 
in the sense of " the youthful Oleander." The fauces in ver. 67 may 
be the same as those here called veoi. 

2 Viz., at the taking of Thebes by the allied Hellenic forces. 

3 Hesychius, h-q^iovada^ evtypalvecrdai, evOv/jLclffdcu, dr)/noaia irai&iv. 

4 See 01. i. 58. 

5 " Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." We have rb irap 
irohbs, "that which is present," in Pyth. iii. 60 and x. 62. 

6 See Nem. ix. 19. 



16-31] ISTHMIAN ODE VII. 259 

ought to entertain a good hope ; and I also, as one 
brought up at Thebes, 1 the city of the seven gates, 
ought to pay to Aegina the first tribute of the 
flowers of song ; because from one sire two daughters 
were born, the youngest of the female offspring of 
Asopus, 2 and they found favour with Zeus the king. 
Wherefore one of these he settled as the ruling 
power of the chariot-loving city by the fair-flowing 
Dirce; 3 while thee (Aegina,) he carried off to the 
island of Oenopia and lay with thee, where thou 
didst bring forth to the thunder-crashing sire the 
divine Aeacus, best of earthly beings. And there- 
fore 4 he was fain to decide causes for the gods ; and 
his heroic sons, and the war-loving children of his 
sons, were first in valour to engage in the noisy rout 
of brazen war ; chaste too they proved, 5 and sage in 
mind. Of those virtues the gods in council were 
duly mindful, when Zeus and Poseidon, the gleaming 
god of the sea, contended for the marriage of Thetis, 
each being desirous that she should be his fair bride ; 
for love held them in bondage. But the eternal 
wisdom of the gods did not bring to pass for them 
this marriage, after they had heard the oracle ; for 

1 Between Thebes and Aegina there was a mythical relationship, 
which the poet goes on to explain. See Herod, v. 80. 

2 Viz., the nymphs Theba and Aegina. 

3 Probably Theba had a shrine or statue there. 

4 I have taken h for 5t* 3, here and in ver. 19. Others think it is 
the demonstrative, #s, as in ver. 49 inf. 

5 This alludes to Peleus, whose o-uxppoo-ui/Ti was proverbial. See 
Ar. Nub. 1061-3. 



260 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [32-47 

the sage Themis had declared to them in full 
assembly that "it was predestined for the sea-queen 
to bring forth a royal offspring that should be 
mightier than his sire ; yea, one that should wield 
in his hand another weapon surpassing the thunder- 
bolt and the furious trident, if she cohabited with 
either Zeus or the brothers of Zeus." — " Stop there- 
fore," she said, " these present schemes ; rather let 
her marry with a mortal, 1 and see her son slain in 
war, a hero in might of hand like unto Ares, and 
unto the lightning in the nimbleness of his feet. 
My advice is, to give her as a divinely-appointed 
marriage-prize to Peleus the son of Aeacus, whom 
men declare to be the most virtuous of all whom the 
plain of Iolchos has reared. And let the message 
go at once straight to Chiron's grotto divine; nor 
let this daughter of Mereus a second time place in 
our hands the votes of contention. 2 And on the 
evening of the full moon she may untie in love to 
the hero the virgin zone." Thus spake Themis, 
addressing the Cronidae ; and they nodded assent 
with immortal brows. Nor did her words fail to 
bring forth fruit ; for they say that even the two 

1 This legend (alluded to also by Aeschylus in the Prometheus, 943, 
and in words almost identical with those of Pindar), was invented for 
the glorification of Achilles, by the authors of the old Homeric epics. 
Great as he was from only a mortal father, he would have been 
superior to Zeus himself, had both parents been divine. 

2 Viz., as at present between Zeus and Poseidon. The metaphor is 
from putting ballots of marked leaves in the hands of those who had 
the privilege of voting. 



47_58 J ISTHMIAN ODE VII. 261 

princes 1 attended the marriage of Thetis in common 
with the rest. The youthful valour of Achilles has 
been shown to such as proved it not, by the mouths 
of poets. 2 'Twas he who stained with blood the 
vine-clad plain of Mysia, sprinkling it with the dark 
gore of Telephus ; who gave the Atridae to return by 
a safe path across the sea ; who delivered Helen, by 
disabling 3 those heroes of Troy, who hitherto had held 
him in check while he marshalled in the field the 
work of the man- slaying fight, the mighty Memnon, 
the haughty Hector, and other chieftains. To all 
of whom Achilles, the champion of the Aeacidae, 
showed the abode of Persephone, and so made con- 
spicuous Aegina and his own parentage. Not even 
in death did he lack the guerdon of song ; but by 
his pyre and his tomb the Heliconian maids did 
stand 4 and pour forth a dirge of varied melody. So 



1 &vaKT€, not &vaKTa, seems the true reading, and so Schneidewin 
has edited. Zeus and Poseidon, though disappointed of their bride, 
were magnanimous enough to be present at the marriage of Thetis 
with Peleus. 

2 Whom it is our custom to call " Cyclic," as in contradistinction to 
the Homeric text. But here again, as in so many places, we see that 
Pindar had very different accounts from those we have been taught to 
regard as "the genuine Homer." The education of Achilles at 
Scyros and by Chiron is meant. 

3 Lit., " by hamstringing," or "by having cut out the sinews of 
Troy," i.e., broken effectually its strength. The metaphor may be 
taken either from disabling animals, or from cutting the strings of a 
lute. 

4 This is related in Od. xxiv. 60 seqq., but it is clear that Pindar 
did not borrow it from thence, but from the same accounts which 
described also the adventures of Achilles against Memnon and 
Telephus. 



262 THE ODES OF PINDAR. [59-70 

this was the resolve of the immortals, to consign to 
the hymns of goddesses a brave hero even deceased. 
And this has reason even now ; l and the chariot 
of the Muses speeds on its way for celebrating the 
memory of Nicocles the pugilist. All honour to 
him who in the Isthmian vales has won the Doric 
parsley ! For he too 2 did once gain a victory over 
men, routing them with irresistible hand. And he 
indeed is not disgraced by this descendant of a dis- 
tinguished uncle. 3 Therefore let some of his friends 
of the same age twine for Oleander a verdant crown 
of myrtle for his success in the pancratium. For 
the contests at the tomb of Alcathous 4 and the 
young men of Epidaurus received him before with 
victory. To praise him is in the power of the good ; 
for he did not quell the spirit of youth by hiding it 
in a corner unknown to fame. 5 

1 Viz., in the present eulogy of the victor's uncle, Nicocles. 

2 That is, as did Achilles before him. 

3 The victor, Oleander, does credit to Mcocles, the uncle, who was 
killed in war. 

4 A hero worshipped at Megara. At Epidaurus games were held in 
honour of Aesculapius. 

5 The concluding words can only be paraphrased. Literally, " his 
youth he did not train (or perhaps " quell," " suppress,") in a lurk- 
ing-place, so as to be inexperienced in honours." The metaphor in 
Mjjiaaev is perhaps from breaking in a young colt, as Sophocles uses 
TTwXofioLiAvsiv for ira&eveiv, Ajax 549. 



STEPHEN AUSTIN, PRINTER, HERTFORD. 



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